It's a Ninja Thing
by the mirror girl
Summary: Bree thinks her Diego is dead. Diego thinks his Bree is dead. Both are in love. Will they be reunited, or will fate have other ideas in mind.
1. And so it begins

**Hello everyone!**

**I read this book, and I just couldn't resist!**

**Please read and review!**

**I'll love you eternally! Well, I do anyway, because you must be awesome to have read all of the Twilight saga!**

**This story is written in honour of RandomJibberish. Read her shiz, you will thank me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, Stephenie Meyer still claims she wrote them. Silly her.**

**Love,**

**Paula**

****

Diego ran. It was what he was best at. Riley knew vampires could survive during the day. Of course he knew, he's not an idiot. He was supposed to go to _her_ house. How could he? He didn't trust her, he didn't even know her NAME for gods sake.

He left a message for Riley to pass onto Bree. He told Riley that the message was a "ninja thing", which he hoped Bree would understand that he had ran, and that Riley didn't know. He also said "I've got a handshake figured out. I'll show her in four days, when we meet up." He knew that Riley would believe that this meant that they would meet up in battle, and hoped beyond hope that Bree would guess to go to their cave, instead of going to the battlefield.

After Riley had given him directions to _her_ house, he set off in that general direction. But instead of ending up in _her_ house, he went to the sea. He swam until he found a scuba diver. He fed off of him, then tangled the swimmers breathing apparatus in sea weed so that it would look like he drowned, then got bitten by a fish or something. It took the edge off the thirst. He wondered were the vampires being fed, or trained. He tried to imagine Bree doing training exercises, but he just couldn't imagine it. He could only imagine her sitting at the sidelines, reading, hiding behind Freaky Fred.

He thought back over his conversation with Riley. Riley had told him about the battle with these yellow eyed vampires, that he expected Diego to fight in. He told Riley about this "being safe in the sun four days a year" lie. It worried him that Riley had such control over the vampires, that he could possibly convince them that this was anyway true. It was stupid. Why would the battle be on this day? That was just too big a coincidence. But then again, thinking was not encouraged by Riley.

Diego wished that Bree was with him. Diego always wished that Bree was with him. He wasn't sure if leaving her alone to fight in this battle was the best idea. He hoped she could decipher the message. If she went into the battle, she could be killed. That would torture him. He barely knew her, yet he felt like he'd known her all his life.

He thought back to the two kisses they had shared. On both of these occasions he felt like he was going to burst with happiness. He was so happy the first time when she didn't just push him away. He knew she hadn't been expecting it, but he also knew how happy she had been when he kissed her, even if he only had the nerve to kiss her for a mere second or two, and that being just a peck. He imagined spending eternity with her. He would kiss her every chance he got, not letting her out of his sight for any length of time. _I'm not clingy at all!_

He loved being around her. She was just so cool. If he had joked about them being BFFs or being ninja's with any of the other vampires, they would have probably tore off one or more of his limbs. He remembered when he left the pure dreg for her. The way her eyes never left his, as though she had expected him to take the body away from her. He was glad he had done it, even if he was still hungry afterwards. That was the beginning of everything, and he was glad he had her.

****

"We would certainly be prepared to take responsility for Bree" Carlisle said.

Bree looked from the Volturi to the yellow eyed vampires, and the delicious smelling Bella, then back to the Volturi, to Jane.

Jane looked thoughtful in her eyes, but her mouth was still slightly smiling, but not causing her pain. That child was terrifying.

"We don't make exceptions." Jane said, amused.

"I know you don't, but, if we trained her. She wouldn't be Bree. She would live like this, like us. We would turn her into a Cullen. She didn't get a choice into her life, and I'm sure if you asked her, she'd be more than willing to change." Carlisle pleaded on her behalf.

Bree was amazed. These vampires that didn't know her, that the vampires she believed were her enemies, were pleading for her life. Was it to spite the Volturi, or did they actually believe that her life, or second life, was worth preserving?

The four Volturi looked at each other for a long minute. Bree held her breath, so to speak, this not being that difficult because it was not like she needed to breathe anyway.

Eventually, Jane said "We will give you a month. If Bree is still like she is now, we will destroy her."

I was shocked. I had myself written off as dead, so did everyone else. A few more words were exchanged, but I didn't care what was said afterwards. I got to live! The only other thing that I picked up on in the conversation was "Caius will be so interested to hear that you're still human, Bella."

So they planned to change her to a vampire. The date was set even. I envied the vampire who got to change her, got to taste that sweet blood, to savour it. I looked at the red haired vampire who had his arms around her again. Would it be he who changed her? More than likely she decided. She was interested in their relationship. He obviously wished to keep Bella human from the look he shot at Jane when she mentioned the fact that Bella was human. Why would he want that?

She would ask him later.

Later.

The thought that there would BE a later was amazing.

She wasn't going to die.

But…Diego… The thought of him made her want to scream. He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't.

She remembered the brief kisses they had shared. "I'll show her in four days…" That was today. Did he really believe he would survive going to _her_?

_Her_…Victoria? Now she had a name, instead of their creator, did that even change anything, the Cullens already knew who she was. So would not knowing her name have saved them after all? Did Riley and Victoria really believe that the Cullens would have killed the newborns by association? Or would knowing about Victoria have given the mind reader extra information. She didn't know. She wished that Diego had been there so that they could have worked it out together.

She wondered did Diego ever learn _her_ name? Would they let her go to Fred? She doubted it. They had claimed they would take care of her, and she assumed that meant that they would not let her out of their sight until she was like them. What did being like them even mean? Was there some challenge she had to overcome?

The Volturi were gone. Vampires had a police. How could they reinforce law? What laws were there? Was there a book of vampire laws? A vampire court? The mind reader obviously knew what she was thinking, all the questions that were going through her head. The burning in her throat had returned, and all other thoughts and emotions were forgotten. It was agony. Venom filled her mouth just thinking about Bella's blood. How could they stand it. The breeze kept blowing Bella's scent towards Bree. She tried to turn away, but she couldn't. She was too drawn to the scent.

The mind reader spoke to the short, dark haired female vampire and glanced at Bree a few times. The other vampire glanced at Bree, nodded her head, and her and the human walked away.

The red haired mind reader came over to where Bree was standing.

"First, I am Edward, not the red haired mind reader. The other vampire that Bella left with is called Alice. Second, you will get used to having Bella around. It will be difficult, I know that much. It usually takes vampires hundreds of years to be able to resist the pull of blood. Sometimes I still have the urge to bite her, but I never would. I love her. Thirdly, no, she's not my pet as you were told by Riley. She is the love of my life." he told her. She was glad he was able to read her thoughts so she didn't have to ask all of the questions that bugged her out loud.

"I'm confused. You're supposed to be my enemy, we were supposed to kill you, we lose, but you still fight for my life, when I know I mean nothing to you." Bree said, sounding genuinely confused.

"We do not waste lives." Carlisle said, walking over, obviously having listened into their conversation. "Come on now Bree, time to go home."

****

Riley Park, Vancouver. There was a bench that people couldn't look at properly that day. When they passed it, they felt nauseous. No one could understand why, but soon forgot about it.

Some people even swear that they heard a voice say "24 hours… Good luck Bree…"

Suddenly, people could see the bench again.

It was a strange day in Riley Park.

****

Sitting in the cave, Diego waited.

She hadn't came. He was getting really worried. Was she dead? Did she die in the battle?

He reasoned that he would have known if she'd died, he would have had a feeling in his gut or something, but really, deep down he knew that that wasn't true, and just didn't want to think that he hadn't been there to protect her.

_Bree…_

He sat in the pillar of light he had created that day with Bree, admiring the sparkle of his skin. It illuminated the cave, casting rainbows on the walls.

He remembered how scared of the sunlight she'd been. It went against everything she'd been taught, everything she'd learned. She had pushed him back so he wouldn't have gotten burned, she would have risked her life for his on the first day they'd met each other. He smiled at that memory.

_I love her… _He thought about this statement. Did he? Was that feeling love? Could he love her? He didn't know her that well really. But yes. It was love. But was she dead? Could they have won? Riley certainly made it sound like they had a good chance. But Riley was cocky. He knew that well. These questions swam in his mind. He tried to push them back, but he couldn't. He needed to know she was alive and well.

_Bree…_

What could he do now? He could go to the battlefield. It was getting dark now anyway. He knew exactly where it was, Riley had told him. Was Riley angry at him for not going to the battle? Did Riley care?

_Bree, where are you?_

****

**That's that, that's the first chapter! Tell me what you think, won't you, my darling reviewers? **

**I will reply to every review, because I'm awesome like that!**

**I hope you like it, please tell me what you think, and if you think I should continue it!**

**Love,**

**Paula**

****


	2. The hunt and the wait

**Well, due to my AMAZING reviewers, I decided to update super-mega quickly! That, and I was bored, but mainly because of my reviewers!**

**I think though that I shall just update once a week from now on, just so I'm not rushed and then the chapters can be longer and more planned. Sound good?**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine…**

**Yours,**

**Paula! **

**I would also like to dedicate this chapter to the awesome The Sneaky Hobo, who read the book on the bus down to Cork, because she's cool like that!**

**~Bree~**

Sitting in the Cullen's living room, I never felt more out of place. They were all so similar. I now knew all of their names, including Emmett and Rosalie, whom I had not interacted with yet. They all knew each other so well, better than she had known anyone in her coven, even Diego. _Diego…_Even thinking the name made her want to cry, scream, die.

"So, how come your eyes are all yellow?" Bree finally asked Alice, wife of Jasper. At least they acted like a married couple. She saw the looks of pure love they exchanged. It made her miss Diego even more. Would we act like that if we were together? She would never know. Alice seemed to be the nicest of the younger vampires, even if she was in love with Jasper.

"You probably don't know this, but vampires can survive just on animal blood. We're vegetarian vampires, sorta. When you drink just animal blood, your eyes turn this amber colour. Pretty cool, huh?" Alice said with a smile. Alice always seemed to be smiling. She got on really well with the human girl, almost as if they were sisters. Bella was sitting on the couch with Edward, staring at Bree's eyes. _Yes, _Bree thought,_ they are red, stop staring. _It was making Bree uneasy, and after a while, Edward whispered something into Bella's ear, making her blush, flash Bree an apologetic smile and look away.

"So," Bree said after a while "If I drink animal blood, my eyes will go that colour?" Bree imagined what Diego would have said if he saw her with those eyes. He would probably laugh at her. Would she be able to drink animal blood?

"Exactly! You're getting it! I knew you would!" Alice laughed, pleased at Bree's ability to understand.

Bree's throat burned. She hadn't fed since the ship. She ran her tongue over her elongated fangs. Jasper looked over at Edward, then turned to Bree and said "Shall we go hunting?"

Bree was surprised. Jasper disliked her, hated her even. But Alice gave her an encouraging smile, so she agreed.

"Um, sure." she sounded uncertain. Why did he want to go with her, why not send Alice or Edward or someone? It didn't make sense. But the burning in her throat meant that she was not going to argue.

**~Diego~**

The days came and went. He sat in the cave, not daring to leave, even to feed, in case she came into the cave and he wasn't here, so she thought she had had the wrong idea and just left. The days dragged on. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days. He had nothing to entertain himself with. Even the sparkle of his skin did not distract him from his boredom, loneliness and fear. He imagined what he would do if he had Bree with him. Boredom would be the last feeling that they would experience together.

Hours crawled by, dragging the sun along with them. Finally it was the fourth day, the battle day. He knew if she didn't turn up today, he'd never see her again. He just knew it. That thought squeezed and crushed his chest and every important organ inside it.

He was more restless today than he had been in the last few days. And his throat… It burned… He missed her so much.

He imagined killing a mortal. Not a mere whore or pimp, but a day to day human being, not tainted by drugs and alcohol. He would break into their house when they're alone, creep into their room, wake them so they could take a good look at him, sweep back their hair, kiss their neck, smell it, before delivering the fatal bite. He imagined drawing the blood out of their throat, sucking them dry. His mouth filled with venom just at the thought.

_No, stop thinking like that, think of anything else._ _You're not making this any easier on yourself._

Darkness fell and still she was not there. He waited and waited. "Come on Bree, come on, please Bree…" he chanted, out loud. He was frightened for her life. Was she dead? Did she die in the battle?

He knew he wouldn't forgive himself if she had. Why had he been such a coward and not gone to the battle, to protect his Bree? She was a book nerd, what did she know about fighting. The opposition was not going to be easy to defeat, he knew that, Riley knew that, everyone did. Riley had more than likely told the group they had an edge, maybe even offered a reward. Everyone would be overly cocky. He knew Bree would see through everything Riley said now, he knew she did not trust him, and never did.

Had that lack of trust saved her or killed her? He wanted to just know she was alive. He didn't care even if he never got to see her again, as long as she was still alive. He didn't want to live in a world without her.

"Bree, where are you!" he shouted, not caring if anyone heard him. It was unlikely they could anyway, the cave being too far away from the surface, and from people.

He thought of Freaky Fred, would he have protected her? He had never seen her and Fred conversing, but that didn't mean that they weren't friends, or that Fred would not help her if she needed it. He believed that. He needed to. Had she thought of staying behind him at all times, especially because people didn't notice Fred? That would have saved her, if she had thought of it. How could she be killed if no one could have noticed her? It had worked for her in the three months she had spent with Riley and the group.

In a couple of hours it would be dawn.

Would she be there before then? He hoped so, he really, really did. He doubt he could exist without her anymore.

It was amazing how someone he barely knew could have such a big effect on his life.

_Bree! Come on! I need you to be alive, I need you to be here! I need you!_

**~Bree~**

Bree and Jasper ran through the forest together.

"Why are you taking me hunting, and not any of the others? It's not like you like me or anything." Bree asked, not in a cruel way, she just knew that he didn't like her, accepted it and moved on. Life was easier if you did that she found, rather than trying to convince people that don't like you that they should like you.

"Edward asked me to." Jasper answered, in a matter-of-fact tone. _So the mind reader can send messages psychically. That must be a very useful skill, _Bree thought.

"Oh. I see." Bree replied. Well, that sorted that then.

They lapsed back into an awkward silence. A few times Jasper glanced over at Bree, as if to try to figure out something about her. After ten minutes of this, Bree finally snapped "What?"

"Nothing, it's just, you're radiating sadness and loneliness." Jasper said, finally showing some sign of not decency, but interest.

"You and the other Cullen's killed my coven and everyone that means anything to me. I was almost killed by the vampire police yesterday and I am staying with a family of vampires that I, not so long ago I might add, believed were my enemies. So I'm sorry if I'm not Miss Joyful." she snapped. How dare he ask about her life, when she knew he couldn't care less about her.

"No. That's not it. You lost someone you loved, and it's breaking your heart. You couldn't care less about that coven you're from, you're glad that they're dead." he said, not accusingly.

"How can you know that?" Bree blurted out, amazed at how he could pick up on that.

"I'm skilled. My skill is I feel your emotions as my own, and can alter them if I wish, or if you request." he informed her.

He suddenly stopped running, held out his arm, and put his finger to his lips, and pointed to their prey with his other hand.

She stopped and followed his finger. A large deer was in the clearing ahead of them. Jasper gestured that she remain here while he took down the deer. He leapt onto its back, twisting its neck until she heard it crack and she knew that the huge creature was dead. Then he gestured towards her to come and join him. She ran over to him and crouched down. He pointed to the vein in its neck. She clamped down gratefully.

It tasted strange, alien to her. She kept her eyes on Jasper while she fed, as if she suspected he was going to take it back. Even though it tasted wrong, it still helped with the burn in her throat. She sucked it dry. When she finished she stood up straight, trying to look as if what she had just done did not weird her out in the slightest.

She looked down at the body of the fallen, dead deer. For some reason it made her feel guilty, like a monster. Humans were stupid, evil, useless. But this deer, what had it done wrong in its life? It caused no wars, it caused no pain in anyone's life and, though she was not the one who had killed the beast, she still felt guilty and ashamed. Funny how she felt that way over an animal instead of a human.

Jasper felt her distress, and suddenly it was gone. She looked up at him.

"What did you do? Why do I suddenly feel guilt free?" she asked accusingly.

"I just relaxed you a little. You will have to get used to this type of blood if you want to survive the Volturi's next visit." he said, calmly.

"You can't just mess with my emotions!" she was furious. "They're not yours to mess with!" she turned and walked away. Jasper followed her, but said nothing.

Bree knew that the next month was going to be one of the most difficult months of her life.

_Diego…_

**~end~**

**That's chapter two then! Did you enjoy that! Next update will probably be posted on…um…Monday I guess!**

**It would mean a lot to me if you could review, tell me what you think of this, etc.**

**If I get five reviews I may update before then ;)**

**Yours with love,**

**The mirror girl**

**XxXxXxXxXx**


	3. Hope

**Hello all!**

**I know I said I wouldn't update until Monday but…Wow. My reviewers are actually the nicest people ever. When I checked my email and say the number of reviews I was just so happy! Ye made me so happy and brightened my day right up!**

**So as a thank you I thought I would update super quickly!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, not mine, still…**

**Love,**

**Paula!**

**~Bree~**

Back in the Cullen's, Bree was bored. Everyone else was out hunting. She had fed the day before, so she was not hungry enough to endure the guilt of killing another animal. Bella was at her own house. Carlisle was at work, Esme was out shopping, and Edward was downstairs.

Bree sat in the windowsill in one of the upstairs rooms, staring out of the window. Her thoughts nagged at her, but she tried to block them out as much as she could. She was doing that a lot these days. When she did allow herself to be carried away by her thoughts, she always ended up upset and wishing she could cry.

Maybe… Just maybe, he could be alive. Where would he be if he was but in their cave? She knew it was a slim to non-existant chance, but this was the only hope she allowed herself to cling onto.

Soft piano music came from downstairs. She listened carefully, feeling the music's rise and falls, allowing it to wash over her, waves of calm entering her body. She was more at ease now than she'd been in a long time. All too soon however, the music faded out and all was still and quiet again. She got up from the sill and wandered downstairs and over to Edward sitting behind his piano, writing musical notes down in a manuscript. Bree herself had never learned an instrument. She never had a sense of rhythm, and didn't want to torture anyone with how bad she would be.

Edward had been so absorbed in what he was doing that he jumped when Bree softly said "that was amazing".

He turned to face her, startled. "Uh, thanks Bree" he said. "I wrote it for Bella a long time ago, but I lost the sheet music for it, and I'm trying to rewrite it."

Bree's eyes flashed loneliness when he mentioned Bella. She knew Diego was as into music as she was into books.

"Things will get easier for you Bree, I know they will. No matter how lonely and hopeless you feel right now, it can't get any worse. We are here for you to talk to if you need us. Even Jasper. He is a good guy, he just hasn't shown it to you, yet." Edward said softly.

"I just miss him I guess. He meant so much to me, y'know?" she knew if she was human she'd be crying right now, but vampires couldn't cry. Edward looked as if he understood. Suddenly Bree didn't want to talk about it with him any more, and changed the subject by asking "Why are you here and not with Bella?"

"Um, she wanted a day at home with Charlie. She's had precious few of them, God knows." Bree knew he was lying. They had her on watch and they were keeping Bella away from her. Not that she was complaining. She hadn't been alone since she came here though, and that annoyed her. Did they not trust her on her own? What was she going to do? Break into a human's house and suck the family dry? She wanted to ask these questions, press the issue, but she didn't want to sound as if she was ungrateful for what the Cullen's had done for her. They had saved her _life_ for Gods sake!

"Do you have anything to read Edward?" she asked. Maybe if she read it would take her mind off of _him_.

"Of course Bree" Edward said, giving her a crooked smile.

Edward went upstairs and returned a few minutes holding up some books. _The Secret Garden_ was among them. It was her favourite book of all times. When she was human, she would curl up in her wardrobe and read it over and over when her dad was gone, imagining a better life for herself.

"Thank you Edward" she said, giving him the biggest smile she had given anyone since she came here.

"Anything I can do to help, just ask."

"There's one thing… If it's not too much to ask…"

**~Diego~**

Diego had to leave the cave to feed. It had been three days since the battle and Bree still hadn't turned up. She was dead. Diego didn't feel it was true, but surely if she had survived she would have gone to look for him, wouldn't she?

But she was so independent. She didn't need anyone as long as she had her books. He probably meant nothing to her, and why should he? He had been the one to kiss her all those times. Had she just been humouring him? _No, now you're just being stupid. You know she cares about you. Stop this right now._

For the first time in seven days, he stood up. His throat now burned to the point of where he could think of nothing else. He wanted to scream because of the agony of it, but he bit down hard so he wouldn't. He started to move and soon he was at the surface. He could not recall how he got there, his body was moving without telling him where it was going.

It was night, judging by the position of the moon it was around three a.m. The only people around were the truck drivers, whores, dealers and clients of the various, illegal businesses. He could smell the blood pulsing around the humans bodies. He wandered around the streets of Seattle, unable of thinking about anything but the blood that was all around him. After a short time he found what he was looking for.

She was around eighteen years old, blond, tall, and pretty for a human girl, but it was her blood that luring him to her. It smelled sweet and sugary. It was laced with a drug, heroin probably, but he was used to that.

She was staring at him. It was his good looks that she was drawn to. He was a vampire after all. If humans knew about the good looks of a vampire, they would run from every good looking person they saw. He smiled at that thought, but it was soon forgotten when he neared the girl. He walked towards her and she peered at him through heavily mascara laden eyelashes. He was easily a head taller than her.

He smiled at her, a sexy, alluring smile, and she smiled back, blushing. When he was in front of her, he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. This was the fun bit. She thought that this was just a bit of fun, and if she didn't she was too high to care. He kissed her neck, and she lifted her head so that her neck was more revealed.

His fangs elongated, and he pierced a spot on her neck. It was then that she figured out something was wrong, but it was too late for her to do anything to change it. He clamped down harder, blood filling his mouth. He savoured the taste, even with the taste of drugs. She tried to push him away, but it was a pointless effort. He easily overpowered her, and soon she was dead. But his hunger was nowhere near satisfied. He threw the body in the nearest bin and set fire to the bin with his lighter. It wasn't as if bins being set on fire was unheard of in this area.

Soon he was on the hunt again.

**~Edward~**

When Bree came downstairs to him, the look in her eyes was heartbreaking. They looked empty, like a ghost, as if what used to matter in her life had been ripped from her body. And as far as he knew, it had. She never said anything about herself. She barely spoke in general. She just sat around all day, staring out of the window, as if waiting for somebody.

When her eyes flashed loneliness when he mentioned Bella, he instantly regretted saying her name, and he was not surprised when she changed the subject.

He had to smile when she asked for books though. Books were a good escape, they really were. He had no idea what she was into, so he looked through all of his books and brought down a wide selection. _The Secret Garden _had been an afterthought, and he was surprised that that had been the book she had picked out, instead of other books like _City of Bones _or even _Going Postal. _

_So she's into a book about kids, interesting._To him, this suggested that she had not had an easy childhood, but he did not ask her, purely because he didn't want her to think of bad times in her life, especially after losing this boy, Diego.

What she asked him surprised him slightly. Her eyes looked so full of hope, there was no way he could say no. He send Alice a message saying where they were going, and they got into the silver Volvo and headed off.

Bree sat up straight for the entire journey, hope still in her eyes. He hoped that what they found was what she wanted to find.

When they came into Seattle, she started giving him directions as to where they were going. Finally she pointed to a place where he could park and she got out of the car. They were parked near the end of a pier. She jumped out of the car, moving quickly and excitedly. She jumped into the ocean and swam to the bottom. Edward followed her, reluctant to let her out of his sight, as the Cullen's had pledged.

They turned, and entered a cave. Bree entered first, impatiently trying to get in there, Edward close behind her. He knew what she was hoping to find in the cave, but when he saw her, he saw that Diego was not there. Bree had fallen to the ground, crushed. All her hope was gone. It was heartbreaking.

"Come on Bree." Edward finally said. "Let's go back to Forks." He scooped her up and carried her back to the car, not trusting her to walk. She was broken. He wanted to help her, he really wanted to take her suffering away, make her know it was all going to be OK.

_Alone, _Edward thought, _that's what she feels. All alone._

**~End~**

**Enjoy that? I certainly enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it!**

**Next chapter WILL be up on Monday, buuuut, if I got, say, ten more reviews, I may be tempted to update on Saturday?**

**Sorry if Edward was slightly out of character, I did my best though!**

**Love,**

**Paula!**


	4. Uncomfortably Numb

**Hellos!**

**It's Saturday, so it's time for my update! **

**My reviewers are amazing, it's actually crazy! This story is definitely my most popular thanks to ye guys! (Sorry, I'm Irish, the "ye" thing is necessary!)**

**I would like to thank Nessarie for correcting my failures at grammar, and also pointing out that the Twilight vampires fangs don't actually grow, their teeth are just that sharp. I would like to dedicate this chapter to her for taking the time to correct my faults!**

**Anyhoo, time to begin, eh?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this :( Ah well!**

**Love,**

**the mirror girl/ Paula!**

**~Bree~**

Two days later, Bree hadn't moved. She was sitting on the sofa in the Cullen's' living room, exactly as Edward had put her when they had gotten back from Seattle. She hadn't fed for three days.  
She never wanted to move again.  
The Cullen's didn't know what to do. Bella was in the Cullen's' house a lot, but Bree barely noticed her. She just wanted to die.  
Bree used to be so independent. She didn't need any guy, she was happy on her own, as long as she had her books, her worlds that she could live in. When did that change? She missed being emotionally numb, you didn't get hurt that way. Diego had been the closest thing she had ever had to a boyfriend, but now she had lost that. She never wanted to get emotionally attached to anyone ever again.  
Her chest was tight. It felt like it was being squeezed in an iron vice, and whenever she thought of Diego it felt like someone was tightening the vice, so tight she couldn't breathe.  
Her throat was on fire, but she barely noticed and cared even less. She had no intention of feeding anytime soon. Or ever again. Could vampires starve to death? She honestly didn't know. It was amazing how little she knew about her own body.  
She wanted to destroy every beautiful thing around her, to crush it all in her strong vampire hands, to throw it at the walls, to tear the walls down. She fantasized it, but didn't dare.  
If she had been paying attention to what had been happening around her, she would have heard Edward and Jasper converse via whispers. She would have heard Edward ask Jasper would he send a wave of calm and happiness in Bree's direction. She would have heard Jasper said he had been for the past two days, but they had had little or no effect on Bree. She would have noticed Carlisle come home from working at the hospital and inquire about the last time Bree had fed, and looking worried when Alice had said four days ago. She would have seen Esme sit on the couch beside her, and would have heard the words Esme said in an attempt of making Bree feel better. But she noticed none of this.  
It was Rosalie who finally snapped Bree out of her trance.  
Rose marched into the living room and stood in front of where Bree was sitting.  
"Bree?" Rose demanded. Bree didn't notice her, the same way she hadn't noticed anyone in the last few days.  
"Bree!" Rose demanded again, sounding angry, but still Bree did not reply. What Rose did next surprised everyone. Rose raised her hand and slapped Bree right across the face. The sound of the impact of Rose's palm against Bree's cheek was heard all over the house. For the first time in two and a half days, Bree looked up from the ground, a look of utter emotional pain in her eyes.  
Before Bree could go back to her sorry state of self pity, Rose slapped her again, harder this time.  
Bree put her hand to her cheek, and finally showed an emotion other than pain, hollowness and general sadness: anger.  
"What the hell is your problem, you blonde fucking bimbo? The person I loved and cared about most in this world died recently and I never got to tell him that I loved him, or even say goodbye! Does that mean nothing to you, Barbie doll? You wouldn't know what it feels like to be hurt and alone, would you, you spoiled bitch!" Bree shouted, anger dripping from every syllable. She stood up, her face just inches away from Rose's.  
Edward was standing in the doorway, watching Rose and Bree. Emmett tried to get past him to get to the girls to pull them apart, but Edward put his arm out to stop him and whispered in his ear "Don't, This is good for Bree. She needs to take out her pain and anger somehow. She hasn't fed in over four days, she's no match for Rose. Rose knows what she's doing."  
Emmett nodded and stood next to Edward, watching the scene unfold in front of them.  
"Yes, because you're the only one that's ever lost the person they love. Look around you! Look at the humans you've fed off! Don't you think they had families, friends, partners, lovers? Did you even care, as long as you got a meal? Do you think that they feel any better than you do right now? How are you any better than Diego's killer?" Rose snapped right back, squaring up to Bree.  
"Don't you utter his name so lightly, you bitch! You didn't know him! And I was always careful to choose people who wouldn't be missed!" Bree said coldly.  
"'Cause whores and druggies never had friends!" Rosalie laughed. "Look at your eyes! A sorry mixture of red and amber, the red thick around the edges. You're a sorry excuse for a vampire."  
Bree punched Rose with such force that Rose went flying across the room, banging into the wall, before turning to Edward and saying, "I'm going hunting."  
Edward looked at Emmett, stunned, before running after Bree.  
**  
~Edward~**  
How did she do that! Edward thought, astonished. She should be weak, barely able to move, but yet she could punch with enough force to send a vampire flying.  
Emmett was just as surprised as Edward was, and Edward suspected Rosalie was as well, but didn't bother to read her mind before running after Bree.  
He found her in a clearing in the forest, hunched over and breathing deeply. When Edward showed up she stood up straight, ran towards him, and asked, "Is Rosalie hurt?". She sounded so scared and worried that Edward had to pull her towards him and give her a hug.  
"Rose will be fine. She's just a little shaken up. Understandably. How did you do that? You shouldn't have been strong enough!" Edward sounded amazed.  
Bree pulled away from him after just a moment. She didn't want anyone to touch her. Edward had a look of understanding in his eyes and didn't try to touch her again.  
"I don't know what happened. Just… When she said that… I felt a surge of anger and energy, and then Rosalie was hitting the wall and I was out of there.  
"Well, I'm impressed. Come on, let's go and get you some blood." Edward said, happy that Bree was back to normal, well, closer to normal than she had been in the past few days.

**~Diego~**  
Diego finally went back to the cave, after feeding deeply. Very deeply.  
When he entered, the first thing he noticed shocked him. A scent. Or a trace of a scent. No, two scents.  
One of them was Bree's. The other… The other he didn't recognise. But what he did recognise was the scent was male and vampire.  
Could she have moved on so quickly? Could she honestly be with some other vampire?  
Did that mean he was right in thinking that she had never loved him, and had just been humouring him? Was Bree like that?  
He was angry.  
He was furious.  
He was hurt.  
And most of all, he was jealous.  
"I'm going to find her. I'm going to kill him." Diego vowed, his voice emotionless, before punching the wall of the cave with all of his strength.

**~End~  
**

**What ye think? Let me know, pleeeeeease?**

**I know it's not a great chapter, I'll do better next time! I'll update again on Monday, promise!**

**Love ye oh so very much!**

**Paula!**


	5. Overcoming

**Hai guys! **

**How are we on this fine Monday evening?**

**Well, here's chapter five! Sorry about the epic fail that was chapter four… In my defence, I had spent the day cleaning and was tired… That's not a good excuse, but it's the only one I have. I'll make this chapter extra long to make up for it, OK? Aww, I knew you would forgive me you lovely reader!**

**Disclaimer: Are they mine yet Meyer? No?**

**Love,**

**Paula**

**~Rosalie~**

What the hell had just happened? Rosalie was shocked and surprised and not without good reason. Where had Bree found that strength? The girl had not fed in so long, she should not have had that strength. She should have barely been able to stand, or have even been able to concentrate on what Rosalie had been saying, because of the burning in her throat that she should have been feeling. It didn't make sense! Had she _really_ been that angry?

Her eyes. Oh her eyes… They flooded her mind until the point that she was drowning in them. Before Bree had attacked her, her eyes had glowed pure red, full of anger and hatred. Bree's face had contorted, and during that moment of time, she did not look like Bree at all, but like someone had stolen Bree's body for that moment. The memory of that image made her shudder.

Rosalie was sitting on the ground. White dust from the wall she had been thrown against was falling on her hair and clothes, turning them that powdery white colour. If Rosalie hadn't been so surprised, she would have freaked out because of the mess she now looked.

Emmett stood and laughed before helping Rosalie up and pulling her towards him. _He always has to be condescending._ Rosalie thought.It was just what he did best, she knew that, but it still drove her crazy.

Rosalie got to her feet, brushing some of the dust off of her clothes, and shaking her head, releasing more of the dust into the air. If vampires could cough, she would be coughing up her lungs from the amount of the plaster dust in the air around her.

Rosalie was worried about Bree. Bree was so emotionally isolated, even before she went to Seattle with Edward. It was like she was afraid to trust any of them, for fear that, what, they would turn their backs on her? She was like that towards all of them. Except Edward.

Edward looked out for her, almost as if Bree was his kid sister. He always volunteered to be on "Bree Watch" as they called it, even if that involved bringing her to Seattle apparently. He had almost asked Bella not to come over on the days when Bree was, well, too depressed to function, but Alice had convinced him to invite Bella over by reminding him the Bree would barely notice if Bella was there or not, seeing as she wasn't reacting to anything anyone said or did. He was still reluctant to leave the room for more than a few moments.

Rosalie hadn't wanted to provoke Bree like that, but if she had not snapped out of her trance like state, it would have slowly eroded at her until she was unable to go back to normal and moved on with her life.

Emmett was laughing at how dusty she was, and she shot him one of her glares. Rosalie's glares were terrifying. That girl could turn someone to stone with her glares. They were also able to put an end to one of Emmett's laughing fits. Usually. But this time it didn't work, and after a while Rosalie joined in laughing. She couldn't help it. She didn't even think it was that funny!

They were both worried about what was going to happen to Bree, if she was going to get over Diego, if she was going to be able to become a "vegetarian" so to speak in time, what would happen if she got past the Volturi, would she leave them? But right now, Rosalie and Emmett stood in the Cullen's' living room, laughing so hard that they didn't think they would ever be able to stop again. After a long while, they had both been able to stop laughing for long enough for Emmett to pull Rosalie towards him, say "I love you," and kissed her deeply, before more dust fell from the ceiling, covering them both.

Which, of course, made them laugh even harder than they had been before.

**~Bree~**

Bree looked over at Edward. He was drinking from a fox. That boy looked as hungry as she was. Had he not fed recently either? By the looks of his eyes and how quick and deep he fed, she was taking that as a no.

Out of all the Cullen's, Edward was the one she felt closest to, which was not all that surprising. Alice looked slightly afraid of her. Emmett watched over her, albeit from a distance, but never really spoke to her. Jasper seemed to just hate her. He glared at her every time he walked past. It annoyed her. Esme seemed nice enough, but they hadn't spoken much. Carlisle was in work for a lot of the time. Rosalie… She saw now what Rosalie had been doing. She had been trying to make her interact with her surroundings again. Bree felt a surge of gratefulness and warmth towards the girl and laughed out loud when that realisation dawned on her.

Edward had been startled by Bree's laughter and looked up at her, confused. When he realised that she had figured out what Rosalie had been doing, he looked happy. _Yeah, he won't have to worry about me attacking Rosalie when we go back, it must be a load off of his mind. _Bree thought, smiling.

Edward laughed at that and said, "Yeah, you're right. I was worried about that, but not without good reason."

"Have you drank enough yet?" Bree asked him, teasingly. She had already fed until she was full, which was a very welcome feeling, after the burning she realised she felt when she left the Cullen's. The animal blood was still strange, and she didn't get the same dizzy feeling off of it like she had with human blood, but it filled her nonetheless. She still felt guilty about taking an animals life though, and she doubted that was going to change any time soon.

"Yes, I have. Shall we go home?" Edward replied, tossing away the fox carcass.

Bree nodded, then turned back in the direction of the Cullen's house.

"Race you!" Edward shouted, suddenly ahead of her and gaining speed.

Bree shrieked and ran after him, determined to catch him.

Edward bounded in the front door, just millimetres in front of Bree. Edward ruffled her hair as she came in, making Bree laugh harder than she had been already.

"Damn you, Cullen!" Bree laughed, smoothing her hair back into it's ponytail. "Where's Rosalie?" Bree asked, looking around. Her gaze fixed on the wall. There were cracks where Rosalie had hit it, and there was dust everywhere.

"Upstairs, in her room." Edward answered, no longer laughing. Would Rose be angry at Bree? He hoped not, that would be the last thing Bree needed right now.

Bree turned towards the stairs and walked slowly upstairs, trying not to make a sound. She felt like she had done enough damage that day and made enough noise. She was almost surprised that the Cullen's did not just kick her out, or send her to the Volturi. Riley would have, if he had not needed them to fight against the Cullen's.

Edward followed her, not wanting to let her be alone facing Rosalie. He wasn't going to intervene, unless they started to attack each other or something, so he waited until Bree was at the top of the stairs before he followed her.

Bree reached Rosalie's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in Bree!" Rosalie shouted from inside the room.

Bree opened the door and stood in the doorway, not wanting to enter the room in case Rosalie didn't wish her to. Rosalie was lying on her bed with a book. She put a bookmark in the book, marking the page that she was reading and put the book on her bedside table.

"Come in, Bree. Please." Rosalie said, patting a space on her bed beside her. Rosalie's long, blonde hair was being kept back with a hair band. Bree walked over to the bed and sat facing Rosalie without uttering a single word. Bree didn't want to look straight at her, so she focused on any

After a pause that seemed to last for eternity, Bree finally said "Rosalie, I'm sorry for earlier. I didn't mean to hurt you, I honestly didn't. I don't know what came over me, and I really hope you can forgive me." in a very quiet, earnest voice. She had been staring at a point on the bed beside Rosalie, but now rose her head so that she could see how Rosalie reacted to her apology. Bree's eyes were big and hopefulness shone out of them. Bree looked so much like a puppy at that moment that she had to smile.

"Of course I forgive you Bree. You just surprised me when you did that. I didn't think you would have been able to do that after you hadn't fed in so long." Rosalie said, shrugging.

"I don't know what happened! I felt sluggish, but then… I just had that rush of strength. I'm so sorry." Bree said, relieved that Rosalie wasn't angry at her.

Edward walked into the room, smiling at the two girls. They both laughed at him and threw pillows at him.

"Bree, I'm always here if you want to talk about, you know, _him._" Rosalie offered, smiling.

_Diego…_ Bree thought. Had she actually forgotten him for most of that day? Her smile instantly disappeared and she looked past Rosalie. The sharp sting of disappointment returned to her, but she did not let it overpower her, like she had done.

Rosalie pulled Bree towards her and held her close. Bree could hear Edward's sharp intake of breath, and he looked ready to jump in if Bree rejected the hug, but instead Bree wrapped her arms around Rosalie and pulled herself closer to her.

At that moment, Bree realised she didn't have to face this alone. This house was now her home, and she didn't want to be anywhere else at that moment of time, well, except for with Diego, but she knew that this would have to do.

It would always have to do.

_Oh Diego…_

**~Diego~**

Diego knew two things: Bree had fallen in the cave and had had to have been carried out. They drove away from Seattle.

Diego was hurt, he genuinely was. How could she have moved on? Didn't she care for him at all?

No matter how hard Diego tried, he could not trace the two vampires. They had drove away so fast he could not be sure which direction they were heading.

_At least Bree is still alive though. _Diego thought. He toyed with that thought, waiting for it to make him feel better, but it didn't. Not one bit. At least when he thought she was dead, he thought she died, well, loving him.

Now…

Now he knew that that wasn't the case, and he just felt hollowed out.

He wanted to just curl up on the floor and stop existing for a while, but he knew if he didn't do _something_ he would actually go crazy. So instead, he went for a walk.

He plugged his headphones into his Walkman and put a CD in on full blast, trying to block out the sound of his thoughts.

The album he had chosen was "Dizzy Up The Girl" album by the Goo Goo Dolls, and the song Iris came on. He walked through the moonlit streets humming under his breath.

_I'd give up forever to touch you, _

'_Cause I know that you feel me somehow…_

If only he could have said goodbye to her properly. Hugged her, kissed her… Asked her how she felt towards him. Did she ever think the same?

_You're the closest to heaven_

_That I'll ever be,_

_And I don't wanna go home right now…_

She made him feel like heaven wasn't out of his reach, not at even though he knew that he would never be able to enter heaven. No one had said it to him, and he wasn't a believer to begin with, but he knew but when they were together, when they were near each other, when it was just them alone, that was his heaven. He never wanted that to end.

_And all I can taste is this moment_

_And all I can breathe is your life…_

The times they were together and not trying to figure things out were the only times he ever spent just enjoying a moment. No planning ahead, no remembering the past, just those precious few moments, that they may never share again.

'_Cause sooner or later it's over…_

They were now at the "_over_"part in that line.

_I just don't wanna miss you tonight._

But he'll miss he now every night…

_And I don't want the world to see me_

'_Cause I don't think that they'd understand…_

"It's a ninja thing…" Diego whispered. That was what they shared. That was theirs. That's what he told Riley to tell Bree… He remembered how they had tracked Riley that time to _her_ house, they had acted like ninjas. No one else but them would have understood, but that was them, the were the ninjas.

_When everything's made to be broken,_

_I just want you to know who I am…_

After those lines, he threw the walkman on the ground with all of his force and stamped on it.

How could a girl he barely knew affect him like this?

How was it possible?

How had he allowed it?

In the time he had been listening to that song, he had left Seattle. He didn't know where he was now.

He imagined himself leaving all of his problems in Seattle and walking away to a new life.

Yes, that's what he was doing.

He would try to forget about her.

Yes.

That's what he would do.

**~End~**

**Well, that's that!**

**Um, next chapter should be up…um…tomorrow night?**

**Maybe?**

**If I get enough reviews that is! ;)**

**Ten review…Please?**

**Lovage!**

**Paula!**


	6. Shopping

**Hello everyone!  
I am back! I owe ye all a huge apology. I know I promised to update ages ago, but I had writers block, then I went on holidays with my family, and then I was sick, and had not got the willpower to write, or do anything but watch reruns of Glee. But thanks to RandomJiberish I finally had the energy to update, so let's all say thanks to her!  
Anyhoo, on with the story, and please forgive me…  
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything, not that I deserve to!  
Love,  
Paula!**

~Bree~  
Rosalie, Edward, Bella and Bree were sitting in the Cullens living room. It was strange for Bree, because she had never spent much time around Bella. The scent of her blood was sweet, with a floral air about it, but Bree was struggling to ignore it. She had fed the day before, so she was not hungry. She was doing well at the "vegetarian" diet and her eyes were slowly turning amber.

Edward had his arm around Bella, and the look of love and awe on Bella's face made Bree feel alone. Though Edward was looking at Bella so Bree could not see his expression, she was betting his face mirrored Bella's.

Silence hung thick in the air, and Bree was not going to be the one to break it. Suddenly, Alice bounded in through the door with a big smile on her face, as always.

"We're going to go…SHOPPING!" Alice declared, sounding incredibly hyper.

"Eh, I can't-" Bella began, but Alice cut her off.

"There's no point arguing, I had a vision of you, me, Bree and Rosalie in the changing rooms of a mall." Alice laughed. Edward looked relieved at not having to go. Bella looked like she was trying to think of any excuse for not going. Rosalie seemed pretty excited, but it was pretty difficult to tell with her sometimes. Bree was kind of happy. She had run out of things to read, and if it meant she got to bond better with the female Cullen's, then she was all for it. She was worried about Bella's presence though. How would they get along? Bella hadn't really ever said anything to Bree. Maybe that was the point of this.

An hour later they all piled into the Range Rover, Alice driving with Bella in the front, Rosalie and Bree in the back. The radio was on, and Bella was flicking through the radio stations, trying to find one that didn't just broadcast static. Eventually she chose a station.

Alice and Rosalie were engaged in a conversation about what designer was best. Bella looked at them like they were crazy and Bree stared out of the window blankly.

"So Bree, what designer do you think is best?" Alice inquired.

"Um… I don't really know…" Bree answered, meekly, not sure what to say.

"It's difficult to choose, isn't it." Alice laughed, staring out of the windscreen, eyes on the road.

"Sure. Yeah. Definitely." Bree agreed. In truth, she knew absolutely nothing about clothes. As long as they covered your body, then they were grand.

"Don't worry Bree," said Bella with a twinkle in her eye, "I know nothing about clothes either." This made Bree laugh and she knew the tension between them was gone completely.

**~Rosalie~**  
Rose laughed along with Bree and Bella. The atmosphere in the car was finally comfortable, thank God.

They eventually got to the city centre of Seattle. Bree looked uneasy here, which was understandable. Rose wondered what it had been like for Bree here. She looked around her, like things were familiar here, but not. Alice linked arms with Bree and  
Bella and breathed deeply. "Come on girls, time for a make over!" Alice declared happily. Bella looked bored already.

Half an hour later Alice was carrying two shopping bags in each arm, Bella had a new dress, Rosalie had new shoes and Bree had an entire new outfit consisting of a mini skirt, a spaghetti top and a pair of strappy stilettos, which was a complete shock to her system.

They were all sitting in a café, even though Bella was the only one of them drinking a coffee.

"So, where next?" Rose asked, happily. Rose loved shopping, it was amazing to have all of the guys staring at her, boosting her ego by loads.

"Can we go to a book store please?" Bree asked, timidly. She'd been with the Cullens for two weeks now, but she still wasn't completely comfortable around them.

"Yeah please! I have nothing to read at the moment!" Bella pitched in.

"OK then." Alice said, reluctantly. "But then, more clothes shopping, please?"

"Sounds like a good compromise to me" Rosalie said.

Bella finished her coffee and off they went.  
**  
~Diego~**  
Diego had been on the move for a few days now. He'd lost count of how many it had been.

He had gotten a CD in each town or village with a music shop he'd been through. He had acquired fifteen new CD's. No matter what he listened to, it reminded her of Bree.

It was early, only about three A.M. when Diego came across him. He was about half a mile away, but Diego could sense him. There was no way he could be mistaken.

He ran in the direction of his smell. Within seconds Diego had found him, or rather the place that he was.

"Fred!" Diego called, smiling. "How've ya been man?"

"Fine. Have you heard from Bree? Did she survive?" Fred replied, emotionless.

"She survived." Diego answered, softly.

"Good."

"I'm gonna go feed, wanna come?" asked Diego, changing the subject.

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

**~End~**

**Well, that's that! Bella and Bree are getting along and Diego and Fred have found each other. **

**Next chapter up in a few days, I hope. Again, I'm so sorry about the delay... I do still love ye, honest! **

**Review!**

**Love,**

**Paula **

**xxxxxxx**


	7. Dirty Looks

**Hello everyone. I'm apologising (yet again) for the very late update. But today, I'm writing this chapter especially, to dedicate it to a family friend who passed away last night.**

**R.I.P. Gerry Dunne, you will be sorely missed…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, unfortunately…**

**Love,**

**Paula **

**x x x x x x x x x x**

**~Bree~**

After lunch, and another hour of shopping, Bella excused herself from yet another highly overpriced shop to go to the bathroom. Bree asked if Bella wanted to accompany her, and Bella shrugged and said, "If you want…"

It was the most luxurious bathroom Bree had ever seen. It had leather couches for when you were waiting, with a table beside it with books and fashion magazines. There were hair straighteners, face scrubs, warm towelettes and every other luxury you could think to find in a bathroom. What a difference from the dingy toilets in Walmart that she was used to.

"We need to talk." Bella said, after she had washed her hands.

"I know we do." Bree said. "But before you say anything, I just want to make sure you know I have no feelings towards Edward as more than a friend whatsoever. Like, really, just no."

"Well then, this makes what I'm going to say now a bit easier for you. When the month is up, and the Volturi deem you changed, I want you to leave the Cullen household." Bella said, coldly. Bree was confused, earlier on, everything seemed to be fine, her and Bella had been laughing together, chatting, joking.

"But…why?" Bree asked, shocked. She had really thought her and Bella could be friends.

"I don't want you around Edward. Look at you. You're beautiful, graceful, charming… Everything I'm not. And I don't want Edward to leave me for you." Bella snapped.

"Where is this coming from Bella?" Bree asked, hurt.

"This is coming from Edward basically telling me to leave him alone when you're there, ditching me to spend time with you, from the smiles you two share, from you enchanting the Cullen family with your puppy-left-after-Christmas look, from your entire being." Bella replied.

"Bella, please, listen to me, I'm not going to steal Edward. I would _never_ do that to anyone. I'm sorry you feel this way…-"

"Yeah, you better be sorry. I'm not falling for your little act, Bree," Bella interrupted, "and you better be gone after your evaluation…or else." Bella turned to walk out of the bathroom, stopped, looked back and said, "I think it would be best if you didn't mention this little conversation to anyone, don't you agree?" and before Bree answered, Bella was out the door, leaving Bree looking stunned in her wake.

**~Rosalie~**

Bella returned from the bathroom and shot Alice and Rose a smile. Bree followed her after a little while, looking troubled, and kept looking over at Bella with a hurt look on her face.

"Are you OK, Bree?" Alice asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Bree answered, a little too quickly.

Rosalie could have been wrong, but she could have sworn Bella's smile widened when Bree said that.

"Yeah, Bree and I had a nice little chat in the bathroom, didn't we?" Bella said, sounding cheerful.

"Yup! It was nice that we both got to air everything between us out." Bree answered, as if she was reading it off of a script.

"Awh, that's great for you two! I'm really glad we can all be friends." said Alice with a big smile on her face. Alice clearly wasn't picking up on the tension between Bella and Bree, but to Rosalie it was clear as day. What could have happened?

Rosalie as up at the counter, paying, when Alice's eye's clouded over, and she had a concentrated look on her face. Alice came out of her vision with a troubled expression.

"What's up, Alice?" Rose asked, "What did you see?" she added, quieter, so that the salesmen wouldn't hear.

"Nothing, nothing to be worried about!" Alice said, but shot Bree a dark look. "Time to go home, I think. I bet the guys are getting a bit worried."

They all walked back to the car, after spending a few minutes trying to remember which parking lot they had parked the car in.

Rosalie drove, with Bella in the front seat and Alice and Bree in the back. Alice kept shooting Bree dirty looks, which Rosalie saw in the rear view mirror. What was going on here? What had Bree done to annoy Bella, and what was she going to do that made Alice so angry?

Bree spent the journey staring out of the window, and Bella fiddled with the radio.

The song _Patience _by Guns 'n' Roses came on and the sweet acoustic music filled the car. Bella stopped fiddling and left the radio on that station.

"_Everything will work out fine, all we need is just a little patience…" _

That line hung in the air, and Rosalie hoped that with time, everything would really work out fine for Bree.

**~Diego~**

Diego and Fred wandered around the streets of a town aimlessly. They had stopped paying attention to the town names, as every town was the same. The same shops, the same community, just different faces. It was late, and the streets were theirs.

Fred didn't talk, unless it was completely necessary. This suited Diego to the ground, because he was in no mood for long conversations. Fred stopped, sniffed the air, and hid behind a bin in an alley, with Diego hot on his heels.

A pair walked past them. A man and a woman. At first glance, you would think they were a couple, but if you looked twice, you'd see the money sticking out of the girls bra, and the stoned look on the guy's face.

Diego and Fred pounced on them. They put up little fight, Diego and Fred were too quick for them. Within minutes, both bodies were drained. Diego and Fred torched the bodies with lighters, and threw the charred remains into a dumpster. No mess. No witnesses.

"Why aren't we looking for Bree?" Fred asked, out of the blue.

"What's the point? She's moved on. I didn't mean anything to her, so why would I want to talk to her?" Diego answered, bitterly.

"Diego, you're an idiot sometimes." Fred replied.

"How dya figure?" Diego replied, surprised.

"You assume since she was with a guy when she went to your cave, that they were together. They could just be friends. Talk to her." Fred snapped.

"But what if she _has_ moved on, and that guy _is_ her new mate, what then?" Diego reasoned.

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." Fred said.

"No." Diego shouted.

"You're an idiot."

They continued on in silence. At the edge of the city was a forest, and the road went through it. Fred shot Diego dirty looks and glares every so often, and hoped Diego would change his mind. Diego ignored the glares and walked quickly, as if trying to lose Fred.

"Hey! You guys! Wait up!" A female voice shouted from behind them…

**~End~**

**Oh, who could it be? **

**What a bitch, Bella!**

**I have created a Facebook account for my fanfics! Type in "Paula "themirrorgirl" Mahoney, and add me! We can chat, exchange ideas, and hey, maybe even become friends!**

**I'll update soon, or I'll try to anyway.**

**Love,**

**Paula **

**X x x x x x x x x **


	8. Fighting and problem Solving

**Howdy! No need for an apology this chapter, because I updated within 20 days!**

There will only be another few chapter of this story… *tear*

Well… Here's chapter 8!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, at all.

Love,  
Paula  
X x x x x x x x x x x

~Rosalie~  
"Alice?" Rosalie asked. She was standing in the doorway of Alice's room. Bree was downstairs, chatting to Carlisle. It made Rose smile looking at how well Bree was now, in comparison to just three weeks ago, when she barely spoke. Now she was laughing with all of them, except Alice and Bella, and Rose wanted to know what Alice had seen that made her so hostile towards Bree.

"Yes, Rose?" Alice said, not moving away from her wardrobe, which she was sorting through, throwing away last seasons clothes, probably.

"What's up?" Rosalie said, not wanting to be totally blunt.

"Just looking for my black dress, you know, the one with the straps that make me look wow?" Alice said, distractedly.

"Oh, the one you wore to that thing?" Rosalie said, trying to pretend like she knew what Alice was on about.

"No, not that one, the one I wore when I was at the other thing, remember, and that guy came up to us, and we were all like, yeah go away." Alice said, with a deadly serious expression on her face, as if Rosalie should remember this, even though that was the vaguest description of an event, well, ever.

"Oh! That one! I was confusing it with that dress you wore to that thing that Edward couldn't go to, 'cause he was at Bella's.

"You want to know why I'm pissed at Bree." Alice said, turning to Rosalie for the first time.

"Well, yeah." Rose said, walking over to the bed and sitting down.

Alice walked over and joined her on the bed. She stared out the window, until finally she said, "Bree's going to leave us when the Volturi give her the all clear."

"Wh-why? That can't be right, you're mistaken. That's only one scenario Ali, you can't just hate her for this." Rosalie murmured, trying to sound convincing, but her heart sank inside.

It was difficult to get along with Rose, she knew, but Bree, Bree was a friend, and she was going to leave?

"Plus, maybe she just wants to leave because of the way you and Bella are treating her, did you think of that? She was so happy, then you just give her the cold shoulder." Rose scolded. Alice looked Rosalie in the eye.

"Maybe, but I don't want to try to be friendly to her if she's going to leave anyway." Alice said, determined.

"Have you tried, I don't know, talking to her about it, hmm?" Alice's eyes narrowed at this. "You talk to here, seeing as you two are just best buddies. Leave me out of this." And with that, Alice turned back to the wardrobe, and Rosalie took this as her cue to leave.

Bree might leave them? Why? She was so happy here.

Everyone loved her, except Bella. Alice did like Bree, she was just hurt that she would leave them all.

Bella. What was her problem. Was it just jealousy? It would make sense, if Bella was an insecure idiot. Which, she was. It wasn't that Rosalie disliked Bella, Bella just annoyed her. But hey, if Edward was happy, then that was that.

Rosalie descended the stairs, going to confront Bree about this, but she got distracted by the sound of a car pulling up outside. Edward, and by the smell of it, Bella.

**~Edward~**  
"So, what do you think of Bree, love?" Edward asked on the ride home. They had spent the day in Bella's house, talking, laughing, just enjoying each others company. He loved those days.

"Um, she's nice, I guess. I don't know, I just…" Bella trailed off.

"You just what?" Edward asked, interested. It was times like these he wished he could read her mind, find out what actually goes on in her head.

Bella turned to look at him. "I don't trust her Edward. I think she likes you."

"Bella, I love you, but sometimes..-"

"Hear me out, OK? She keeps shooting you adoring looks when she thinks you're not looking, she keeps hugging you, it's always you that she wants to go hunting with. Tell me that I'm wrong. Tell me that it's all in my human head."

Edward stopped the car and pulled over into the hard shoulder.

"Bella, my love, we're friends, that's all. Don't tell me you're jealous of her. I love you. Only you. I'm just helping her through a tough time, that's all. There's nothing going on between us, nor will there ever be." He picked up Bella's warm hand and kissed it. "OK?"

"OK Edward… I'm sorry for snapping at you." Bella said, hanging her head.

"No problem my love"

He pulled back out onto the road and they continued the journey in silence.  
**  
~Bree~**  
Bella and Edward walked into the Cullen household and was met by a thoughtful looking Rosalie.

"What's up Rose?" Bella asked.

"Bella, can I talk to you for a second?" Rose asked, and dragged her off before she could protest.

Bree was sitting in the living room, reading. Edward came in and sat beside her, seeing as Bella had been dragged off. Bree made no reaction to suggest that she had noticed Edward's presence.

How am I supposed to act around the Cullen's now, knowing that I'll have to leave… Should I ignore them? No, that's rude. I just wish I could talk to Edward, tell him what Bella said… Maybe he could find some way to help me win Bella over. He'd never believe me though…

"Try me." Edward said, breaking the silence.

"What?" Bree said, sounding confused.

"What did Bella say to you?" Edward said, sounding interested.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Why would Bella say anything to me? Edward, I think you're going crazy. I didn't say anything. Nope, me and Bella have shared no words." Bree babbled.

"Then why are you leaving?" Edward pressed on.

"Who said anything about me leaving?" Bree asked, trying to look like she was surprised to hear this idea of her leaving.

"You forgot that I can read minds, didn't you." Edward said, sounding amused.

"Shit. Well, then you must already know what Bella said to me."

Bree cast her mind back to that brief conversation she and Bella had shared in the bathroom.

Edward couldn't believe it. Bella wouldn't do that, would she? Not his Bella. She would never! Would she? She didn't trust Bree, he knew that much, but telling her to leave?

Edward pulled Bree into a hug. "I'm sorry for what Bella said to you, but I do not think that you should leave. Really, I don't. Please, stay."

"No, really, I should leave. I don't want to get in the middle of your relationship." Bree said, earnestly.

Just then, Bella walked in, looked at the pair in each others arms, huffed, and then walked out of the house.

"Shit."

**~Diego~**  
"Hey, you guys are vampires. Right?" the girl said.

Diego was about to walk forward to pounce, but Fred put an arm out to stop him, and whispered, "No."

Then Diego understood why Fred had not wanted him to attack the girl. She smelled of vampires, but bore no bite marks. Odd.

"I'm Bella, you're Fred, and you" she drawled, as she walked up towards him, "are Diego."

**~End~**

**Not a great chapter, and the next will be better, I promise. Sorry, I've got stuffs to do, hence why it's not great!**

**Hey, hey, wanna read a **_**really**_** good fan fiction? Search for Not What You Read In Books by The Irish Cullen. Read it. You will thank me.**

**Love,**

**Paula xxxxxxxxxxx**


	9. Fear and Giggles

**Hey beautiful reader! :)**

**Just wanted to inform you, that because of how awesome all of you guys are, we are now averaging...15 reviews a chapter. That's pretty damn amazing, don't you agree? And, I would just like to thank all of you for reviewing. It makes me so happy to check my email, and find that I have got Review alerts, and everything like that.**

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**Lots and lots of love!**

**I also do not own this!**

**Paula **

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**~Bella~**

Bella looked from Diego to Fred. She knew it was them, because she remembered how Bree had described them. She once again thanked God that the vampire's abilities didn't affect her, or else she would probably be unable to be this close to Fred without feeling incredibly nauseous, and, sure enough, through the guarded look on Fred's face, she knew he was trying to figure out why she wasn't at least backing away slightly. Diego just looked confused as to how Bella knew who they were.

"Bree told me all about you two" Bella gushed with a smile. Diego flinched slightly at the mention of Bree's name, but tried to hide it as best as he could.

"Bree? Really? How is she these days? What did she say about m-us?" Diego said, trying to sound casual, but failing, miserably.

A smirk flashed over Bella's face, but was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by a concerned one.

"I-I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you this Fred. Diego..." looking at each of them in turn. Diego shifted his position slightly, but Fred just stared on in mild interest.

"Is she OK? Did something happen to her? What do you know?" Diego blurted out. Fred glanced over at him quickly, then looked back to Bella.

"She's fine, but, she's said some things that... I shouldn't be the one to tell you. She should tell you herself." Bella wanted to get this absolutely perfect. Diego's eyes flashed with confusion, but hope at the thought of seeing Bree again. In exactly a week, the Volturi would come to assess Bree.

"How about we meet up here in two days, and I'll bring Bree" Bella suggested, with a grave look on her face. "If you want, that is..."

"Yes!" answered Diego, immediately.

For the first time in this conversation, Fred spoke.

"Why can't we meet her now?"

Bella was taken aback. This response had not occurred to her at all. She was sure that they'd just go along with it, being too excited by the idea of seeing Bree again.

"Be...cause... Bree is... currently... um, busy..." Bella stuttered, unsure of what to say to this. She had no idea what she could even say. _Shopping? No, they could look for her. Hunting? No, they'd join her. Think Bella, think! _

"Busy doing what Bella?" Fred said, tonelessly as ever.

"Are you lying to us? Do you even know where Bree is?" Diego pitched in.

"Why would I possibly lie to you? I don't know what Bree is up to at this current moment in time. She left early this morning with Edward without saying goodbye or leaving an explanation as to where they were going. That's all. But please, don't go looking for her, Edward might attack you or something. He's unfriendly towards other vampires at the best of times. Vampires that want to talk to Bree... That would not end well, trust me. It's best to wait until the day after tomorrow. I will meet you here, with Bree, and we'll talk, OK?" Bella sighed, inwardly. _Making things up on the spot really isn't as easy at it looks in the movies._

"I think we can look for Bree ourselves Bella. No matter how strong this Edward is, I think we can take him. There's two of us and all. But thank you for your concern." said Diego curtly, turning to leave.

"No, wait!" Bella shouted after them. "You do **not **want to fight Edward."

"Oh really?" snapped Diego. "and why would that be?

Bella racked her brains, but could not come up with a plausible excuse. "Well... I do not think that Bree would take kindly to you attacking her new friend. 

Fred raised an eyebrow and Diego narrowed his eyes. "How _dare _you tell me how to handle Bree, don't you _dare._" Diego snarled.

"I'm sorry, but please, it's already been a long time since you last saw her, can't you just wait a little while longer." Bella begged.

"Why wait when we can just follow your scent back to where you came from, which I assume is where Bree is, and just drink your blood now?" Diego said, dangerously, stepping closer to Bella.

"Please, don't, there's more than one vampire there, you'd be killed if you went to the house. And if you kill me, they'll hunt you down." Bella begged, her heart banging against her chest as she backed away slowly.

"Why should I believe that? Or anything you have said! You have given me no proof of you even knowing who she is apart from her name, which would not be difficult to learn, seeing as one of the vampires I've heard you were with is a mind-reader. What do you actually know about her?" Diego demanded.

"She loves reading. I-it's all she does when she's not with Edward." Bella exclaimed.

"What does she read?" Diego asked, sounding a little taken aback.

"Anything that she can get her hands on" Bella said, smiling that she managed to surprise the vampire. "Now, shall I bring her in two days, or not?"

"Do you swear that you will bring her?" Fred said, obviously trying to get this over with without anyone getting hurt.

"I swear." Bella replied, sounding relieved.

"OK." Diego muttered, then turned and walked swiftly away, with Fred following.

Bella collapsed on the ground, and released the breath she hadn't realised she had been holding. It was over, she'd made the deal.

The day after next was going to be _very_ interesting.

**~Bree~**

"Shouldn't we go after her?" Bree asked Edward, looking concerned.

"No. She needs to blow off some steam. She's been acting strange recently." He laughed, "she even suggested earlier that you have a crush on me."

Bree giggled. Then laughed until her face turned red.

"Wow, thanks, that does wonders for my ego" Edward teased, smiling.

"I-I'm sorry, haha, just no. I mean, you're good looking and all, but no." Bree gasped. "You're too much like a brother to me, seriously"

He pushed her playfully, and she pushed him back. Soon they were play fighting and laughing. All of Bree's worries just melted away, and she felt just pure happiness for those few moments.

She wouldn't leave. She couldn't leave all of this. This was her home, and whether Bella liked it or not, she was staying.

**~Rosalie~**

Rose sat on her bed thinking. Should she talk to Bree? She didn't want to befriend her, then just to lose her, seeing as she had enough issues warming up to people in the first place, but she wanted Bree to stay. There was something about her. It was obvious that she'd been through pain. Maybe she could help.

_Who're you kidding, you don't do compassionate. You just don't._

Emmett stood in the doorway, looking at her thoughtfully.

"What's up Rose?" he asked.

"Nothing, just thinking." she replied, smiling.

He walked over to her bed and went to lie down beside her, until she hit him across the head. Hard.

"What the hell was that for?" he demanded.

"Take off those shoes!" she scolded.

"You are unbelievable!" Emmett exclaimed while slipping off his shoes.

"It's one of my many talents." she replied, smugly.

"I love you!"

"I love you too, darling."

**~End~**

**So sorry about the long long loooong wait. I've just had writers block and a severe case of lazyitis. But I will try to update more often, I promise. I love ye all so much.**

**Please review, because reviews are why I finished this chapter! **

**Smile, and happy New Year to all! :D**


	10. A Fight and Falling Apart

**Hello all! How's it going? Ready for a new chapter?**

**I don't think I'll be able to update for the next two weeks, coz I have to go do work experience, doesn't that sound like fun? Get to spend the next two weeks doing work for free to see if that's what I want to do for the rest of my life, joy…**

**Are you shivering with anticipation as to what's gonna happen in this chapter? I know I am, woohoo! So let's begin!**

**I really hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but my plot, the characters are Stephanie Meyer's, sorry!**

**Lovage!**

**Paula**

**Xxxxxxx**

**~Bella~**

Bella slipped through her bedroom door and sat down on the edge of her bed. She hadn't gone back to the Cullen's house after her encounter, she didn't have the effort to face up to what was waiting for her there. She had certainly had an interesting day. Fred and Diego. Fred creeped Bella out a little bit. The fact he didn't really talk did not help. She liked Diego, however. She admired how much he liked Bree. _Well, you're doing him a favor, _she thought to herself, smiling.

_Are you doing it for her, or for yourself?_

That was the question that was bothering her. If her plan worked, then Bree would pass her test with the Volturi, then run off with Diego, who she really wanted to be with and leave Edward behind so he could have time for her again. She hated the way Bree would look at Edward with that look of adoration in her eyes, it made Bella sick. How would she feel if she looked at Diego that way!

_Well, you don't know what she would think, because she doesn't know that Diego is alive._

She looked at herself in the mirror in her room and frowned. Was it wrong that she was keeping that a secret? Should she tell Bree? Of course she should, but she wasn't going to. Bree would find out, just not quite yet. Bella shrugged. A few days wouldn't make much of a difference to Bree. Not when she could spend the rest of her afterlife with him. The only remotely selfish part of the plan was making Bree feel like she wasn't welcome here, but that was just her way of keeping Edward. That was the only thing that was in it for her. She wasn't being selfish. No way. She was doing this for Bree. She stared at her reflection. The face that looked back at her in the mirror was full of doubt and conflicting thoughts.

"I just... don't want to lose Edward to her..." she whispered to herself. She took a deep breath, then started getting ready for a shower.

_I am doing the right thing._

She just wished that she could be completely sure of that.

**~Diego~**

It had been a few hours since Fred and Diego had met Bella. Neither of them had said anything since, they were both too busy going over the conversation in their heads. Should Bella be trusted? How could they know she wasn't just messing with their heads? But why would she be? What could she possibly gain from it? Her vampire friends had killed their group of vampires, so what would they need them for? It's not like Diego had any special powers, and Fred wouldn't be much use if he didn't want to be. If they wanted Fred, why didn't they just take him, why send the girl? Unless they didn't know what special powers they had. But then why didn't Bella ask them to go back with her?

_Unless she was acting alone..._

But that didn't make sense either! Why would she want to bring Bree to him? What could she possibly gain from it! It was clear she was close to this Edward guy, judging by the look on her face when she said his name.

_Is that the look I have on my face when I say Bree's name? _

Was Bree a threat to their relationship? Were Bree and this other guy together and Bella wanted to split them up?

What Diego didn't understand is why didn't she just bring him to her! If Bree mentioned him and Fred to her, wouldn't that mean that Bree would _want _to see him? Unless that's what that "two day" thing was about, Bree needed two days to get far enough away from him as she could, so that he couldn't follow her...

_Now you're just being stupid. Stop._

But how did he know that Bree even cared about him at all? He was the one who kissed her. Not the other way around.

_Stop! You'll find out when you see her. Now stop thinking about it._

"Hey Fred, can we go to a music store? I want something new to listen to." Diego said, finally breaking the silence between them. He wanted something to numb his brain, to make him stop focusing.

Fred shrugged and off they went.

**~Edward~**

Edward stood in Bella's room. She was in the bathroom having a shower. He listened to the sounds of the running water and Charlie snoring in his room. His mind drifted back to earlier with Bree, tickling each other on the couch and laughing. It was so nice to have someone to just kid with. It was even nicer to see her happy again. That Diego guy must have been one pretty cool guy to have Bree so upset. And then Bree to finally cheer up a little and then just to have Bella threaten her? It was way out of line. How dare Bella? It wasn't like her to be like this. She better have a damn good excuse.

Edward heard the sound of the water turning off and Bella stepping out of the shower. What would she say when she saw him? Would she deny what she had said to Bree or would she pretend to be innocent? Would she play victim? He heard the hum of the hair dryer and Bella say "ow" every time she brushed a tangle in her hair.

Why would she think that Bree liked him? Sometimes Edward wished that Bella wasn't so self conscious, that she could just believe that he wanted her and no one else... Was she gonna be like this with every girl he was friends of? Would she start to get jealous of his relationship with Alice and Rose? Could he handle that for the rest of eternity?

Bella stepped into the room wearing a string top and pajama bottoms. She looked surprised to see him, but that was soon replaced by a look of confusion when she saw the angry look on Edward's face.

"What's wrong, love?" Bella asked, walking over to him.

"What did you say to Bree?" Edward asked. He saw Bella pale at this and she stopped a few feet away from him, just out of arms reach.

"What do you mean?" Bella replied. _So she's going for feigning innocence._

"You know exactly what I mean." he replied coldly.

"I didn't say anything! She's lying to you, whatever she said. And you're falling for it. Don't you trust me?" Bella accused, trying to sound hurt.

"She wasn't lying. She didn't tell me and she wasn't going to. I read it in her mind. How could you be so thoughtless? Can't you imagine what she's going through? She lost everything! She lost her life when she got changed into a vampire. Then she lost everyone that she knew, because we killed them, including her love. Then she had to live with people she'd always know as the enemy, and then you make her feel like she's not welcome here, just because you think she's a _threat _to you! That's shallow, Bella." Edward glared at her. Bella's eyes started to water.

"I did it for you, Edward-" Bella started.

"No, you did it for yourself. I see you're not trying to deny it. Do you have any idea how angry I am at you right now? I love you, but I don't know if I can stay loving you if you're going to be so... so..."

"Say it Edward. Say what you really think." Bella said, icily.

"So cruel" he spat out.

"Fine. I see. Leave Edward. Go on. But she's going to leave you. I know she will. You can count on it." Bella said, turning away. Tears were rolling down her face, but she kept a solid expression. "She'll leave, and you'll come back. Talk to me when you find out what she's really like. I'll be waiting. I'll always wait for you Edward. I love you. Now leave."

Edward stood still for a while. Finally he nodded and turned away, and within moments he was gone.

**~Bree~**

Bree was confused when she heard Edward come home. It was still night, very early night. And he was alone.

She left her room and went downstairs. Edward was sitting with his back against the door with a furious and lost look on his face. Bree walked over to him. He didn't look up at her, he just stayed staring at his feet. Bree sat down beside him and he rested his head on her shoulder. They sat like that for hours. Neither of them said a word. They both just got lost in their thoughts.

"I'm sorry Edward" Bree said. "All I've done is cause you trouble since I came here. I really don't want you and Bella to fight because of me..."

"No, don't apologize. You showed me what she's really like, I should be thanking you." Edward murmured.

They sat in silence again, until the sun came up.

"Another day." stated Bree.

"Another day." Edward agreed.

**~End~**

**Don't kill me!**

**Bet you're dying to know what's gonna happen next, right? Will Edward and Bella get back together? What will Bella say to Diego now?**

**Please review! Reviews make me all happy inside!**

**I'll try to update soon, but no promises!**

**Lots of love,**

**Paula **

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	11. An Awkward Meeting

**Hey guys! How are you?**

**I knew I said that I wouldn't be able to upload this until after work experience, but I remembered that I'm not that mean, so, enjoy!**

**Remember, I don't own this, sorry guys!**

**Lots of love,**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**~Bella~**

Bella lay in bed, enjoying the few moments of bliss when she just woke up. Soon all the memories from last night would come flowing back, and what would happen tomorrow... But for now, she wrapped herself in her cloth of bliss...

...Which disintegrated all too quickly. Pain wrapped itself around her heart so much so that her chest tightened and she couldn't breathe that well. She was surprised that she had gotten any sleep at all. She had spent most of the night crying, only stopping when exhaustion took over and dragged her into a fitful rest.

She couldn't believe that he was gone. It wasn't like last time. He wasn't leaving because he felt like he had to, but because he wanted to. That was the worst part.

_I love you, but I don't know if I can stay loving you if you're going to be so... so..."_

_"Say it Edward. Say what you really think."_

_"So cruel" _

Those lines kept replaying over and over in her mind.

_Did he ever love me? _

Of course he did. He came back for you. The only reason he's gone is because of _her_. She fucked it all up. If it wasn't for her, she would still be happy. If it wasn't for her, she would be getting dressed now, rather than lying here in bed, feeling sorry for herself. A wave of hatred washed over her towards Bree, stronger then she had ever felt before.

_Ah, but you can hurt her like she hurt you. _

Plans raced through Bella's mind. Cruel? She hadn't been before, but she was now, definitely, and it was all Bree's fault. When she was finished, Bree would be nothing. She would feel worse than when she first joined the Cullen's.

A smile spread over Bella's face, and with that she rolled over and went back to sleep, and dreamed of what was to come for Bree...

**~Later~**

"Hey Ange" Bella breathed down the phone.

"Hey Bella, are you OK? You sound off..." Angela greeted her, sounding concerned.

"It's over... He dumped me. For good this time" said Bella, sounding over dramatic. She wasn't as upset as she should have been, probably from the shock and scheming and things. She called Angela, because, well, she didn't want Charlie to think it was a repeat of last time. She was going to get Edward back. She knew she was.

"Oh my God. Are you OK? Are you gonna get all depressed and stop talking to people again, 'cause I'd really rather if you didn't? Bella, please, don't do that. I can't believe him, he's such a dick! Wanna meet up? Get out of Forks for a while, away from reminders of him?" Angela babbled. Bella smiled at the note of concern in her voice, and the way she insulted Edward like that. Bella sniffed and coughed a little. "Oh darling, are you crying? Don't cry, that bastard's not worth it!"

"No?" Bella asked, trying to sound weak and pathetic.

"No. Now come on, we'll leave for the day, stay in a hotel or something, come back tomorrow, and have an awesome time, no guys, just me and you, OK?" Angela said, sounding insistent.

"If you want..." Bella sighed.

"Trust me, I want." Angela insisted again.

"OK"

"Bus stop. One hour. We have bitching to do."

"Bye Angela. Thank you..." said Bella, before pressing end call.

Well, that would keep her occupied until her meeting tomorrow.

**~Edward~**

"Come on, we should get up" Edward said reluctantly when the sun had been up for at least an hour. He didn't want to get up, because that would mean re-entering a reality that he did not want to face.

"Yeah, I suppose" Bree said.

Seconds passed, and neither of them moved.

"OK, that didn't work." Edward said with a wry smile.

"On the count of three?" ventured Bree.

"Yeah, that could work." agreed Edward.

"One..." began Bree.

"Two..." continued Edward.

"Three!" they said together.

Once again, neither of them moved. They looked at each other and laughed. Edward loved that about Bree, the way she could make him laugh no matter what mood he was in. He was just so comfortable around her. Almost as much so as he was with...

_No, don't do that to yourself. You did the right thing._

Bree stood up suddenly, and pulled him up with her.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Edward protested.

"Tough! Come on, let's do something!" Bree exclaimed, excitedly.

"Like what? There's nothing to do in Forks!" Edward replied. He knew what she was doing, she was trying to get his mind off of Bella, but it wasn't going to work. Bella had been his whole world for so long, the fact that he could have misjudged her character so badly really worried him. If he could have been so wrong about her, than what else could he be wrong about?

"I don't know, um, we could go shopping?" Bree suggested.

Edward grimaced, he hated shopping at the best of times, and he knew Bree did too

"Look, we won't go boring clothes shopping, we'll go buy books and music stuff! I know you play piano, so we could look for some, oh what's it called, um... The books with the music notes things..." her brow creased from her trying so hard to remember.

"Sheet paper?" Edward suggested.

"Yeah, that's the one!" she laughed.

Edward didn't have the heart to tell her that there was nothing he needed, that he had already bought the sheet music to the songs he liked, she looked like she was trying so hard to cheer him up.

"Look, I know you're going through a tough time right now, and I want to help you through this, because well, who knows what you're going through better than me. We both lost someone who we really care for, but we can get through it together." Bree said, quietly.

Edward was taken aback by this statement. She hadn't mentioned anything about Diego in a while.

_What she's going through is worse than what you're going through. You broke up with Bella by choice, and if you want you can try to get back with her. She can't. So if she's strong enough to get through it, so are you._

"OK Bree. Together." Edward said with a smile. "Shall we go?"

"Yep, just let me go get my jacket, it's in my room." Bree replied. It wasn't cold or anything, she just didn't like going outside without a jacket. Edward assumed it was what was left over from her human habits.

"Okay."

Bree turned and ran up the stairs.

_Well done, you've made a good friend in Bree. _Edward thought with a smile.

**~Bree~**

Bree ran up the stairs, trying to leave Edward on his own for as little time as possible, because she knew that it wasn't good to leave him with his thoughts.

When she reached her room she saw that Rose was leaning against the doorway with a look of nonchalance on her face.

"Um, hi Rose, is there something you want, it's just, I'm in a bit of a rush." Bree said in a mouthful, "Edward's going through a tough time at the moment, he and Bella-"

"Broke up, yeah, I know." Rose said, impatiently.

"How did you..?"

"Alice and Jasper have their ways." Rose interrupted again.

"Ah."

There was an awkward silence then. After a few moments Rose stood up straight and said, "Look Bree, I wanted to talk to you but it can wait 'til later. See ya." Rose said, walking away.

"See ya..." Bree muttered, confused.

She walked into her room, got her coat and purse and walked back downstairs.

"You OK?" Edward asked, seeing the look of confusion on her face.

"Edward, I'm the last thing you should be worried about right now." Bree laughed. Typical Edward.

"Don't be silly, I always worry about you." Edward said honestly.

"Shall we go?" Bree said awkwardly, not knowing what she was supposed to say to that.

"Yeah, let's go." he agreed, and off they went.

**~Later~**

"Haha, that was so much fun!" Bree laughed. They had spent the last half hour walking around a baby clothes store with a store clerk asking what did she think would look good on the baby. When they picked out every cute outfit, Edward leaned in to the clerk and said, "Can I also get a wire hanger? Just in case we get any second thoughts?"

Needless to say the clerk panicked and told Bree to get away from Edward as fast as possible. To which Bree just retorted, "Why, you think you can scare me away from my fiancé just because you got your eye on him?" grabbed Edward's arm, and stalked right out of the shop.

"The look on her face!" Edward laughed.

They were walking down the main street when Bree spotted Bella and a girl she didn't know.

"Edward, come on, let's go this way, I heard there's a fantastic bookshop this way." Bree gushed, trying to drag Edward in the opposite direction.

"Um, Bree? There's nothing down that way." Edward pointed out.

"No, I'm sure there's a really good book store..."

But it was too late. The girl Bree didn't know stalked up to them and slapped Edward across the face. She was obviously more than a little annoyed.

"How dare you break up with Bella for this, this, slut!" she raged.

"Hello Angela." Edward said, tonelessly.

"Don't you 'Hello Angela' me! You're a piece of dirt who doesn't deserve Bella, and never did. And you!" Angela said, turning to Bree, "bet you think you're pretty damn special, don't you? Stealing someone's boyfriend? Well, you're nothing, _nothing_, in comparison to Bella."

"How dare you?" Bree glared.

"No, don't bother..." Edward muttered.

"No, she can't talk to you like that. How _dare _ you say that to me, and to Edward. If you knew the whole story, you'd be on our side, but because you don't, you have no right to say anything to us. And we're not _together_ you stupid girl. I'm just trying to cheer him up, so you can go right ahead and fuck off away from both of us, or it'll be more than a telling at you'll get, bitch." Bree threatened.

She then turned and walked towards Bella who was standing about 100 metres away. "Oh Bella, don't think I'm leaving any time soon. I love it here way too much. And if you come near him, or me, ever again, I will kill you."

She walked back to Edward, linked arms with him, and started to walk away from the pair. A tear was running down Bella's cheek, Angela looked like she had been slapped and Edward was shaking his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you just did that..." he muttered.

"Well, believe it. Now, shall we head home?" Bree said in a bright tone.

"Home." Edward smiled.

**~End~**

**Bree, standing up for vampires in distress since 2011. **

**Well, next chapter will be the meeting with Bella, Diego and Fred. Excited?**

**I'll try to have that up by Monday. It's a bit hectic, with work experience and all. I love it though, kids are so cute :D **

**You know what would really motivate me? Lots of reviews, so please, lemme know whether you like it, hate it or love it.**

**As always, I love you, and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Oh, and smile! :D**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	12. Tar on Brick by Boring Brick

**Hey everyone! **

**OK, here's the next chapter, and I'd like to blame my friend Megan for the lateness, seeing as I would've written this yesterday, but she was here. LOL jk, I'm so happy I saw her.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own this...**

**Lots of love,**

**Paula**

**xxxxxx**

**~Bella~**

Bella woke up with a start the next morning. _Oh shit, oh shit. What time is it?_ She rummaged through the drawer in the locker next to her bed, looking for her phone. No luck. She looked for her jeans, hoping that maybe the phone would there, but again, nothing. She was really starting to panic. There was no clock in this room, and her phone was the only thing that had the time on it, She needed to get back to Forks by half one. She pulled the duvet off of the bed, and shook it. Then she pulled off the pillows. She finally found it behind the bed and, with a sigh of relief, saw that it was only half six in the A.M.

She remade her bed, and lay down in hopes of going back to sleep, but when she closed her eyes, she knew that sleep would not come easy to her So instead, she lay in bed, listening to music on her phone, trying not to think of what the day would bring.

She looked over to the bed next to her. Angela was fast asleep, her hair all over the pillow, with her hand on the pillow beside her face. She felt a surge of affection towards her friend. She had been there for her, when she had needed her most. Had Bella been there when Angela needed a friend?

_You were never there for anyone but yourself..._

"_Keep your feet on the ground, when your head's in the clouds..." _The words drifted out from her phone.

_What am I doing? I'm gonna mess up Bree's life._

_What, like she messed up yours?_

"_Go get your shovel, and we'll dig a deep hole..." _

_That's what you're doing right now, you're digging a hole._

"_Make sure to put tar on brick by boring brick, or the wolf's gonna blow it down" _

_If you do this properly, you'll have Edward back, and Bree will be out of the picture. _

_And risk hating yourself? Or worse, _not_ hating yourself?_

Bella was so frustrated. What should she do? She wished someone would tell her. But she couldn't tell anyone. They just wouldn't understand. She felt so alone.

"_If it's not real, you can't hold it in your hand, you can't feel it with your heart.."_

"I love him."

"Is that enough?" Angela muttered in her sleep.

This startled Bella. She hadn't realised that she had said that out loud. Loudly enough that Angela had heard. She thought for a minute. Was he worth this? Every fibre in her body was saying yes. But would it ever be like it was? So much had changed, herself more than anything. Could he ever trust her again. Could she ever trust herself again?

"Yes. It's more than enough" she breathed.

She lay there in bed until twelve, arguing with herself. But she knew what she was going to do, and though it mightn't work, she would cause Bree as much pain as Bree had caused her.

**~Bree~**

Bree was sitting in her room reading a new book she had gotten, _Bridget Jones Diary. _It wasn't really what she would usually read, but it was funny and it gave her something to do. In four days the Volturi would come. She hadn't had a drop of human blood since before the fight. Her eyes were slowly but surely changing from red to that liquid amber that the Cullen's eyes were. It was such a strange colour...

There was a knock at her door, breaking her chain of though, and assuming it was Edward, she just shouted "Come in!".

"Hey Bree" said Alice.

"Oh, hello Alice, sorry, I thought you were Edward! If I had known it was you I would have opened the door for you" Bree apologized, marking the page she was on and putting her book down on her bedside locker.

"Don't worry about it" Alice smiled, "Um, Bree, I want you to know that whatever happens in the next few days, I want you to know that you're so welcome here, and you always will be, no matter what happens."

"What do you mean, Alice?" Bree asked, confused. Did Alice know something? Something about what was going to happen with the Volturi?

"Nothing really. Just that we all want you here." Alice said.

"Well, not all of you, Bella doesn't for sure, and I'm pretty sure that Rosalie doesn't." Bree replied, matter-of-factly.

"Well, Bella's really insecure, like, really insecure. She's so afraid of losing him, because she doesn't know why he was with her in the first place. When Edward left her before, she fell apart. She started doing really dangerous things, like cliff diving until we thought she was dead. Edward loves her so much, but he's not stupid. Bella isn't acting like herself. Bella doesn't threaten or hurt people. She's not acting like the girl he fell in love with and I don't think he wants to love her if this is what she's going to act like." Alice explained.

"But if it wasn't for me..." Bree began.

"If it wasn't for you, this would've happened later and then they both wouldn't be able to get out of that relationship as easily, using the term "easily" lightly." Alice declared.

"OK, but Rosalie doesn't like me either..." Bree stated.

"Rosalie doesn't want you to hurt Edward, that's all. She's also not good at accepting new people into her life, but that's just how she is. She's convinced you're going to leave." Alice said, looking Bree in the eyes. "You're not going to leave, are you?"

Bree returned Alice's steady gaze.

"I won't leave. I wouldn't hurt Edward like that. I promise." Bree said, determinedly.

"Welcome to the family, Bree Cullen." smiled Alice, hugging her tight.

_Everything's going to be OK... _thought Bree.

**~Bella~**

Bella walked into the forest. She had been home for about half an hour, gotten changed, ate some breakfast and headed out again. Charlie was in the station, so at least she didn't have to face him. What would he think of her and Edward being broken up again. How did _she_ feel about it? She was angry, sure, but it hadn't really hit her yet.

She walked for about ten minutes before she came to the clearing. The other vampires weren't here yet, so Bella started planning what she was going to say.

After about five minutes, Bella saw them. They were still to far off to see their expression, but they must have looked confused when they saw that Bree wasn't with her, like they had agreed.

"Hello Diego, Fred." Bella greeted.

"Where is she?" Diego asked, looking around.

"OK, let's try that again, hello Diego, Fred." Bella replied.

"Don't play games with me human." Diego snarled

"I'm sorry, I tried to bring her here, but she wouldn't come with me. She didn't want to see you, because, well, she's got a new mate." Bella said, a tear falling from the corner of her eye. She brushed it away, frustratedly. "I'm sorry. It's just, he meant a lot to me and she took him away..."

A stab of pain crossed Diego's face.

"Where are they now?" Diego demanded, enunciating each word.

"Last time I saw them they were in the town. You could like, follow their scent I suppose..." Bella said, wiping away more tears. _Well done, you've got them where you want them. Following Bree and Edward should waste some of their time._

"Do you want to come with us to find them, Bella?" Fred asked. That was one of the last things Bella expected, especially from Fred. A look of sympathy was plastered all over his face. She wondered what his story was. Had he lost someone he loved? Was that why his skill was to basically to keep people away?

"No, I can't. I have to stay here. My dad wouldn't approve of me leaving again. Long story. But thank you..." Bella declined. Fred nodded and Diego looked deep in thought. "If you find them, can you tell Edward I'm sorry..." Fred nodded again, although he had a look of reluctance about him.

"If you're lying to us Bella, well..." Diego threatened.

"I know." Bella replied, catching his eyes.

Diego and Fred turned to leave. Bella called after them.

"Diego! I just want to know... Do you love her?" Bella asked, hesitantly.

"Yes. More than anything in the world." Diego replied without a pause. With that, they left in the direction that Bella pointed them to.

"_Keep your feet on the ground, when your head's in the clouds..."_

Bella sat down on the ground, looking around her. She loved Edward. She did. But would he love her when he found out what she had done.

_Maybe Diego might still win Bree back, unless he does something like attack Edward. Whose side would Bree take in that fight? Her darling Diego, or her new found friend? _

Interesting things lay ahead, that was for sure.

**~Rosalie~**

Rose waited for Bella to get up and leave before she emerged from behind the tree that she was hiding behind.

Diego was alive.

Diego still loved Bree.

Fred was with Diego.

Bella was...

What was Bella doing? Telling Diego that Bree and Edward were now mates.

Why?

And they weren't in the town, they had come home last night.

But Bella wouldn't know that for sure.

Unless she was wasting some of their time.

What should she do? Should she tell Bree that Diego was alive?

How would Bree react to that? Would she wait for him to find her? _Of course not_. No, Bree would go looking, and Edward would follow her. Once they found Diego and Fred, a fight would ensue. She couldn't risk that happening to Edward, he could be killed.

If Bree found Diego, would she leave them? Or would she invite Diego to stay at the Cullen's, with Fred? Would they adopt the new diet, or would they stay drinking human blood?

They would find Bree eventually, and if she waited for them to find them at the house, everyone would be around to help Edward in the fight.

It meant that she couldn't tell anyone. For now, anyway.

She finished hunting and walked back to the house, going over the conversation between Bella and the two vampires in her mind.

What was going on?

**~Diego~**

The weather was making Diego more and more frustrated. The sun was shining, so they couldn't walk out in the open, for fear of being seen. They would have to wait until the cover of nightfall to leave, and that was hours away. And by then Bree and Edward would be far away and it would take forever to find them.

Diego's mood worsened during the course of the day, so Fred didn't say anything to him.

She had a new mate, whom she had taken from another. That didn't sound like the Bree he knew. She was so kind to everyone, she wouldn't take another girl's mate.

But how well did he really know her?

Not that well, now that he came to think of it.

But that didn't mean anything, he loved her. He really did.

And he would get her back.

When the stupid sun went down!

He let out an exasperated breath and kicked a tree trunk causing the tree to shake.

He sniffed around for any trace of Bree's scent, but there wasn't any here. She obviously didn't go this way.

Seven hours later, it was dark enough for them to get going again, and Diego sighed a sigh of relief to be doing something.

_I will find you Bree._

**~End~**

**Enjoy that?**

**The song was Brick By Boring Brick by Paramore, for those of you who didn't know.**

**I'll try and update next Saturday, but I don't know. Work experience again. Grrr.**

**Please review, they motivate me so. :D**

**Lots of love,**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxx**


	13. A relaxing Atomosphere

**Hey guys!**

I know this chapter's late, I know, but I've been busy with work experience and BLACK SWAN! Also y'know, seeing boyfriend dearest, but it's not like he's important xD

OK, still don't own this, unfair, I know!

Enjoooooooooy!

3

Paula

3

~Edward~   
He was sitting in the Cullen's living room, watching Rent, the musical. Alice's idea, obviously. Emmett rolled his eyes, Jasper sighed, Rose didn't look like she cared, Esme and Carlisle made up an excuse, and Edward just tickled Alice. Bree didn't mind musicals. In fact, she quite liked them, When she was human, she used to dream that life was like a musical, like, everyone went around singing all the time. It would certainly make life a lot more interesting.

"Does he realise he's singing a song about wanting to write a song?" Emmett asked, sounding confused.

"He has AIDs, it messes with your mind. Have you ever been in an AIDs clinic, they're all constantly singing, didn't you know?" Bree replied, keeping as straight a face as she could.

"Really?" Emmett replied, sounding shocked.

"Oh yeah, the disease starts to affect the linguistic part of your brain, causing you to alternate between speaking and singing, it's quite tragic." Rosalie added in.  
Wow, I never knew… I'll never make fun of musicals ever, ever again." Emmett said, solemnly. Jasper threw a pillow at him.

"It's not true you idiot!" Jasper laughed.

"You Bree, are a bitch, and I thought you were supposed to love me Rose!" Emmett fake-sobbed.

"Love is a strong word…" Rose mused, grinning.

They settled back down again for a while after that, Emmett occasionally making a comment or remark on the film, that was ignored by Alice and earned him another pillow being thrown at him, because, though he would not openly admit it, Jasper did like musicals. A lot. This amused Edward to no bounds.

Alice was sitting beside Jasper, holding hands. Rosalie was originally sitting on Emmett's knee, but, not wanting to be hit by pillows, sat down next to Alice. Edward sat beside Bree with his arm draped around her shoulders, a force of habit by now.

Well, look who it is…

Edward got up, excused himself and went outside.

"What are you doing here?" Edward asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Edward! You scared me!" Bella gasped.

"What do you want, Bella?" Edward said, tonelessly.

"Edward, this fight is stupid. It's obvious we are made for each other. You know that." Bella replied, her voice almost desperate.

"I used to think that was true, but now I'm not so sure. In fact, now I know it's not true. So goodbye Bella. It was nice knowing you." Edward said coldly, but not managing to keep the emotion out of his eyes completely. He loved this girl, but, he couldn't love her anymore, not after what she did.

"Are you going out with Bree? Answer me honestly Edward, please…" she begged, tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's not any of your business, but no. I don't have to go out with every person whom I like, believe it or not. Now leave, and do me a favour."

"Anything."

"Don't come back."

**~Bree~**  
Bree had really enjoyed Rent, even with Emmett being a bit (OK, a lot) stupid. The ending was a bit of a let down, and Roger's rhyming eyes with…eyes.

Edward had gotten up at the end of it and excused himself, which was definitely a bit odd. So Bree did the only thing a decent friend could do, which was run up to her room and watch the scene through her window.

"Don't come back"

Wow, that was harsh. thought Bree, and once again the guilt overcame her. They would still be together if it wasn't for her, which was not a very pleasant thought. And no matter what Edward said, it was clear that he resented her for it.

Instead of turning away and going back into the house, Edward walked into the forest. That's definitely not a good sign.

Bree opened the window and jumped out, landing with cat-like grace and followed Edward into the forest, taking special care not to make any sound.

After several minutes, Edward stopped, looked around, and sat down in a clearing. He put his head in his hands and looked as if he was crying, which, of course he wasn't, but it certainly looked like he was.

"Edward?" Bree ventured, quietly.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't realise anyone had followed me here." Edward gushed, smiling. But his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Bree asked, looking around.

"I go here sometimes to clear my head." Edward said, staring at the ground.

"You looked really upset, what happened?" Bree asked, sounding concerned. "Was Rent really that distressing?"

"No, no it wasn't that." Edward muttered.

"Then what was it?" Bree pushed.

"Bella turned up, and I told her never to come back. It just feels like this is it for me, that I'll never find anyone else like her. I was alone for so long without her, but now… Now it's like I can't live without her…" Edward admitted, his eyes still fixed on the ground.

"Edward, don't be stupid. Of course there's someone else out there for you, especially seeing as Bella clearly wasn't the one for you. Someone like you should have no problem finding someone else. And you can live without her, trust me. You'd be amazed at the things you can live without if you have to." Bree comforted.

"What do you mean "someone like me"?" Edward asked, lying down on the grass.

"You know exactly what I mean. You're gorgeous, smart, funny, talented and oh so many other things. You could have any girl in world you want." Bree said, as if it was obvious, and lay down beside him.

"If you say so.." said Edward, brushing off her compliments.

"I don't just say so, I know so. And you know it too, so shut up." Bree replied.

Edward reached out his hand and took Bree's. "thank you" he whispered, so low that even with her vampire hearing, she could barely hear.

"You're welcome." she whispered back.

**~Diego~**

They scoured the town. They searched the streets, the bars, the hotels, the shops and every nook and cranny they could think of, but came up with nothing but bad tempers.

When they had almost completely given up hope, Fred suggested that maybe Bree had left for Seattle.

"Why would she? She has a life around here. It makes more sense to head back to Forks, where she obviously has a life now." Diego argued.

"Maybe she just had a last look around or something. It's worth a look." Fred ventured. "Even for us, it'll be nice to see our home town again, won't it?"

"OK, fine. But just for a while. If there's no sign of them, we'll head back to Forks, OK?"

"Fine."

And so they waited for the cover of nightfall, before making the trip to Seattle. They ran there, so it took them nearly no time at all.

The city was alive with the sounds of the night. The music blaring from clubs, the drunken people shouting, people in cars yelling at the drunken people to get off of the road, the trucks that drove through the night… Diego breathed in the polluted city air with a smile on his face. It was the first time he had smiled in days.

"Ah, it's good to be home." he sighed, contentedly.

"Let's eat."

"That's the best thing I've heard all night." Diego agreed.

**~Bella~**

"_Don't come back"_

That stung. That stung worse than anything had in a very long time.

Bella was sitting on her couch staring at the television screen. The characters were so happy, laughing with each other. The plot made absolutely no sense to her, but she wasn't really paying all that much attention, how could she? Her mind was racing, her heart was hurting...

She didn't know why she went to his house. She hadn't planned to. She just went for a walk, and there she was.

He isn't with Bree. That was the only comforting thought, and even that was countered by another thought that said:_ not yet._

Everything she had was gone. Even Alice wasn't answering her calls or texts. Angela was the only one she had left, and even she was getting sick of her.

_I should have gone with them..._

Her thoughts wandering back to her meeting with Diego and Fred. They were really nice to her. They would've gotten mad at her when Bree wasn't where she sent them, but they would have found them eventually, and then she would have made new friends.

The sound of the door closing broke her chain of thought.

"Hey Bells." Charlie called.

"Hey Charlie, how was work?" Bella called back.

"Fine. What ya watching?" Charlie said, walking into the sitting room.

"No idea. Nothing exciting."

"Mind if I watch the game?" he asked.

"Nah, go ahead" Bella passed him the remote.

"Cheers."

"I'm just gonna go up to my room, do some study. Dinner's on the table." Bella said, standing up and reaching for the door handle.

"What would I do without you Bella? Goodnight kid."

"Night dad."

**~End~**

**Sorry that this took so long and isn't very good. Got a lot of stuff going on.**

**And I promise you all that I'm not just giving up on this story, I love it too much. It's like my little baby :)**

**Review please, they're my little motivations and I love getting them, they make my heart happy 3**

**I'll try to update soon, but you know how I am :D**

**Love,**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	14. I Loved You First

**Hey all!**

**Look, an update, shocker!**

**And it's not like, a hundred years late!**

**I hope you like this, it's a bit strange, but bare with me!**

**Disclaimer: _Still_ not mine!**

**Lots of love,**

**Paula **

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**~Bree~**

_I love him..._

_No, you don't. You love Diego. You're just confused because you don't know if you should blame yourself for the break-up between Edward and Bella, and now you're even more confused because you feel like you're betraying Diego by having any kind of feelings for Edward, friendly or otherwise. But you don't _love_ Edward._

_But Diego's _dead! _I can't keep loving him when I know that I can never be with him again. I wasn't even with him in the first place. We were just friends._

_Really? And if he isn't dead? It's not even been a month yet, and you haven't heard anything from him or Fred. Surely Fred would have contacted you if he knew you were alive. He might even be with Diego! _

_That's stupid to hope for too. Fred couldn't know that I'm alive, like I don't know if Fred. It's stupid for me to hang on to false hope when that's exactly what it is, false hope._

_You're arguing with your own self conscious. You don't get to decide what's false hope._

_I _really_ hope Edward can't hear this..._

Bree was doodling in a notebook she had lying around. She couldn't draw to save her life, but that didn't mean that she couldn't make a valiant attempt at it. Alice, Rose, Emmett and Jasper were out shopping. Well, Alice and Rose were shopping, Emmett and Jasper were dragged along. Esmé was out visiting a friend of hers. She had quite an abundance of friends, even though they moved around a lot. She was just that type of person. Carlisle was in work at the hospital, which meant that it was just her and Edward in the house. He was downstairs playing the piano, the eerie notes drifting into the room she was in.

After a while, Bree closed her notebook becuase she got frustrated and decided that art was never going to work for her. She walked down the stairs and into the room with the piano and Edward. He was completely focused on his playing, and didn't even glance up when she came in.

Bree listened to what he was playing for a while. She realised that she recognised the song and started to sing along quietly.

"You are my sweetest downfall. I loved you first. I loved you first."

A smile teased the corners of Edward's lips, but he carried on staring at the keys, playing the tune by ear. The song was _Samson_ by Regina Spektor, one of her favourite singers

"Beneath the stars came falling on our heads, but they're just old light, they're just old light.

Your hair was long when we first met..."

Bree had thought that Edward wasn't really paying attention, so she plucked up the courage to sing louder because it made it easier for her to hit the high notes.

"Samson came to my bed, told me that my hair was red,

Told me I was beautiful and came into my bed.

Oh I cut his hair myself one night,

A pair of dull scissors in the yellow light.

He told me that i'd done all right

And kissed me 'til the morning light,

The morning light,

And he kissed me 'til the morning light.

Samson went back to bed,

Not much hair left on his head,

Ate a slice of Wonder bread,

And went right back to bed.

Oh we couldn't bring the columns down,

Oh we couldn't destroy a single one.

And the history books forgot about us,

And the Bible didn't mention us,

Not even once."

Bree had been watching Edward's fingers glide over the ebony and ivory keys, but here, their eyes met and their voices joined.

"You are my sweetest downfall,

I loved you first..."

The last note rang out and lingered in the air. Bree was the first to break the eye contact.. Her hand caressed the keys, absent mindedly,

"Do you play?" Edward breathed.

"Nah, don't have the patience for it" she laughed, in spite of herself. "I get frustrated really quickly, seriously."

Edward took her hand and placed her index finger on one key, her middle finger on another one, and her ring finger on the one beside it.

"Now, press down your middle finger first, then your index finger, then your ring finger." he instructed, his eyes looking eager, like a teacher's.

She did as he told her. The three notes rang out. She didn't do it to any particular rhythm, but it was pretty all the same. Pretty and simple.

"See, easy!" Edward whispered.

Bree smiled, playing the three notes over again. As she did that, Edward started playing a string of notes over hers. It was so beautiful. Bree looked at Edward again, her face glowing with happiness. Edward smiled, and moved closer to her, so their sides were touching, their gaze still locked on each other, just a few centimetres then...-

"Hey all! How are we? Look what I bought for you Bree, it's totally your colour! Well, everything's basically your colour but anyway! Did you finish what you were drawing, can I see?" Alice's incredibly high pitched voice rang in. Bree and Edward jumped apart guiltily.

_So close..._

**~Edward~**

_Yet so far..._

Alice, Rose, Emmett and Jasper came home, Alice was gushing about what shops they had been in, who they had seen, what they had bought... Rose had gone upstairs to try on what she had bought, with Emmett trailing after her with all of her shopping bags. Jasper was also laden down with bags, and Alice assured them that there were plenty more in the car.

After sitting through half an hour of being shown Alice's purchases, she finally took the bags off of him and left them to pack away her clothes. Jasper flopped down on the couch, relieved that he didn't have to follow her upstairs to see all the outfits on her... Again...

Alice had bought Bree a dark red dress, tight until the waist, and then billowed out in taffeta skirts. Alice called Bree upstairs to try it on. Jasper shot her a sympathetic look, and Edward squeezed her hand. Once Edward and Jasper were alone, Jasper sat up straight and looked straight at Edward.

"How you holding up man?" Jasper asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine, thanks." Edward replied, stiffly. Edward loved Jasper, he just didn't want to talk about Bella or anyone really, with him.

"What's going on between you and her?" Jasper pushed.

"Who, me and Bella? Nothing, I told her never to come back, so there's absolutely nothing going on whatsoever." Edward sighed.

"No, not between you and Bella, but you told her never to come back, woah. I meant between you and Bree. Emotions were pretty hot when we came home, and don't play innocent..." Jasper said.

"Nothing's going on. We're just friends. We were just singing and playing piano, that's all." Edward denied.

"So you have no feelings towards her...?"

"I have feelings, but, well, we're both going through a hard time at the moment, so we're not stupid enough to start something out of rebound. Plus, she thinks of me as just a brother" Edward explained.

Jasper was going to carry on further, but Bree walked downstairs. The red in the dress highlighted the red in her eyes, and it made her waist look tiny. The dress went to her knees, and she was wearing sandals that matched the dress. She was the most beautiful thing Edward had ever seen.

"What do you think?" Bree asked, twisting to look at herself from every angle she possibly could and pulling her skirt down self consciously.

"You look... wow..." Edward breathed.

"Really?" Bree asked, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Really..."

Jasper smiled to himself, and Edward turned to glare at him.

"OK, I'm missing something here." Bree said, sounding confused.

"Oh yes, you are." Jasper agreed.

Edward grabbed Bree's hands and pulled her towards him. He put a hand on her waist, and kept a hold of one of hers. They started to dance, with Bree laughing and standing on Edward's feet (she had never danced with anyone before, but Edward kept leading her, smiling. Jasper played music on his phone, and they danced to that.

"Edward, I think you're an idiot sometimes" Jasper said, decidedly.

"Go away Jazz!" Edward laughed.

Jasper threw his hands up and left the room.

"Why are you an idiot?" Bree asked, thoroughly confused.

"I have no idea."

They danced until Jasper's phone battery died, and then sat down, still holding hands.

"It's funny. We act more like a couple than me and Diego used to." Bree said, absent mindedly.

"Really?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, me and Diego never really were all coupley. We kissed a few times, but never really did all of this." Bree admitted.

"He's stupid then" Edward declared.

"What do you mean by that?" she pushed.

"You're so pretty, and smart and funny, and I think he's an idiot for not realising that and acting on it more, like any guy with two braincells would" he whispered.

"I think he thought I was too, but I just don't think he's one of those model boyfriend's. He was always a bit, I don't know... He meant the world to me..." Bree said, staring at the floor. Edward wrapped his arms around her.

They talked all night, about Diego, Bella, their old lives... They told each other everything, the good and the bad. It was more than either of them had ever told anyone about themselves.

_I love her... _

_Fuck. My. Life._

**~Diego~**

Diego and Fred wandered around aimlessly Seattle. They visited their old house, but no one was there any more, which wasn't surprising. It was strange thinking that everyone that they had known was dead. All of their acquaintances, so full of life and the fight, gone. It was also kind of a good thing, because neither of them had liked the others very much.

Diego told Fred stories about everything he could remember about there, all the funny incidents, all of the happy times. Fred smiled and grunted where appropriate. He was remembering his own past there too.

They went into old shops, wandered down the streets, alleys, through the parks. They knew they were supposed to be looking for Bree, but, at that moment in time, neither of them cared all that much and besides. her trail had gone dead long ago.

They saw people they recognised, drug dealers, shop keepers, all different sorts of people. They felt like this was home, but that they had long since left it, and could never return to how it was.

"Fred?" a voice called from behind them.

Diego turned around to see a woman in her forties, clutching onto a poster with Fred's picture on it.

"Fred?" she called again. "Is that you?"

"No, you're mistaken, I'm not Fred, or whoever you're looking for, I'm Shaun, and I would appreciate if you would leave me and my friend alone. Goodbye." Fred replied, shaking. He walked away looking as if he had somewhere to go.

"I'm so sorry for my friend, I really you hope you find your missing..." Diego trailed off. Son? Nephew? Boyfriend?

"My son. I'm sorry... He just, he looked so much like my Fred. He disappeared a few months ago, and I just want to see him again. I don't even know if he's alive." the woman's voice broke at the end of her sentence.

"I know how you feel. I lost someone too. Good luck, miss..." Diego bowed his head and followed Fred.

"I hope you find the person you lost too, dear" she called out after him.

Once they were out of earshot of the woman, Diego grabbed Fred's arm and pulled him round to face him.

"What was _that_?" Diego demanded.

"_That _was my mother, believe it or not." Fred replied, sarcastically.

"Yes, that was indeed your mother. Why did you deny being her son?" Diego growled.

"Because I'm not her son. I was her son so many months ago. Now I'm a monster, a monster who repulses people and drinks their blood, not something someone wants for a son." Fred snapped.

"You could have told her! She would have understood!" Diego yelled, incredulously.

"How could she have? Hey mom, yeah, my eyes are red, but that's just because I'm a freak of nature who lives on human blood. You're repulsed by me? Oh, that's just my special power. Come here and give me a hug!" Fred spat, bitterly. "This way, she has hope, and I won't take that away from her"

"You're being an idiot."

"Don't you tell me what to do! You're obsessed with finding this girl who's probably moved on already, who you weren't even going out with in the first place, so you are no role model!" Fred snarled.

"Fuck you, Fred." and with that, Diego turned on his heel and stalked away.

**~End~**

**Yes, I know there is no Bella in this chapter, but she will be back, don't worry!**

**Don't kill me, just in general!**

**Please please please review! Your reviews keep me going through the day! That and caffeine :D**

**Lots of lovage!**

**The mirror girl!**

**Xxxxxxxxxxxxx **


	15. Arguing and Frienship

**Hey all!**

**Sorry this chapter took forever! I'm getting a social life... for once. **

**And thank you for not killing me about last chapter. Got a few reviews being all like, WTF? But that's the fun of being an author.**

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Megan. You're amazing, and I love you and ****I****'m always here for you, OK darling? **

**Remember, I don't own this, so like, yeah.**

**I love you!**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**~Bella~**

_I'm so sick of crying. _

Bella spent the last two days crying in her room. She didn't want to, or mean to, she just didn't know what to do. She toyed with the idea of the Volturi saying that Bree hadn't been good enough at not drinking human blood, but she knew realistically that they wouldn't. They would be back tomorrow. That thought made Bella shudder. She was terrified of the Volturi. Especially Jane. Those eyes...

_He doesn't want you. No one wants you._

She'd been checking her phone and e-mail every few minutes for messages from Alice, Jasper, Emmett, _him..._ She knew it was futile, but her heart always sank when she saw there was nothing. She had fucked up. Badly. She knew that. But was this really fair?

Bella was walking in the forest. She didn't remember making the decision to get out, put on her jacket, or anything like that, but well, here she was. It was relaxing, hearing the breeze rush through the lush leaves. She imagined the breeze blowing in her mind, blowing away all the troubling and depressing thoughts, leaving her calm and peaceful and happy. She smiled.

"_Do me a favour..."_

"_Anything."_

"_Don't come back..."_

She didn't think she would ever be free of those words. Those few words ruined her life.

_No, you ruined your life._

She found herself outside the Cullen's house, and she longed to just walk in and curl up beside Edward...

"Bella?"

Bella jumped, pulled out of her daydream. She looked around, but couldn't see anyone. She recognised that voice...

"Bella, you're so selfish, did you know that?"

Bella still couldn't see who the words were coming from, and she couldn't hear any movement or sounds save for the wind in the trees.

"You're not satisfied with just ruining your relationship, no, you have to ruin Bree's as well. Just because you can't handle your precious boyfriend having a female friend. Grow up."

The voice was coming from a different angle now. Bella whipped around, straining her eyes to see something, anything...

"I should just..." the voice cut off for a second "kill you now." Suddenly Bella was pinned to the ground, with Rosalie on top of her, hand clamped on Bella's throat. Bella paled and tried to breathe. She coughed, trying to get some oxygen into her lungs.

"But I wouldn't, Bella, I. Would. Not." Rosalie released Bella, and jumped back. Bella lay there, coughing and gasping for oxygen.

"I know everything, Bella, everything. Just tell me, why? Why would you do that to Bree?" Rosalie demanded.

Bella said nothing, she just lay on the ground, tears running down her face.

"Is it because you're just a jealous child, who hates to see someone else happy, playing with her doll? So you send their best friend away to get your own back? Well, guess what, your doll doesn't want you. Did you hear me? He. Doesn't. Want. You. Now go. Right now. Before I really do kill you."

Bella scrambled to her feet, trying to escape from the pure hatred in Rosalie's eyes, those teeth... She got to her feet and ran as fast and as far away as she could until eventually she fell down out of exhaustion. Her sides were in agony and her legs were numb. She rolled over and her stomach emptied. She stayed there until she had nothing left in her stomach and found the strength to stand up and go home.

_No one cares. No one. You're alone. And that's exactly what you deserve._

**~Bree~**

Bree was pacing. She didn't know what else to do. She was so confused. She was annoyed at herself for being confused. And being annoyed lead her to being frustrated. She was going crazy.

_He doesn't love you. You're like his sister. And you don't even know how tomorrow will go. What you're doing now is not helping you in any way. If you survive tomorrow, then you can figure out what to do with Edward, but until then there's nothing to gain from obsessing._

Right. Her logical part of her brain was right. But she had to do something to get her mind off of_ him._

Hunting. That made sense.

Her reflection caught her eye before she left her room. Her eyes were almost the same liquid colour as the other Cullen's. They still had a red circle around her pupils, but it had only been a month tomorrow. Will that be acceptable though?

Her hair was getting long. She needed to get it cut soon, because her fringe kept getting into her eyes and annoying the hell out of her.

She grabbed her jacket from the wardrobe and walked downstairs towards the door.

"Hey Bree" Jasper called from the living room, "Where you headed?"

"Just going out hunting."

"Mind if I tag along?"

"Sure."

Jasper was by her side in a second. Bree smiled at him. They hadn't really spoken much and she wanted him to know that there was no bad blood between them, that she thought that he was really nice.

Jasper smiled back and opened the door and gestured that Bree should go through first.

"Oh, chivalry isn't dead then?" Bree joked.

"Not quite" Jasper agreed.

They walked into the forest together, in a slightly awkward silence.

"So... The Volturi are coming tomorrow, right?" Jasper said, finally.

"Yeah, they are." Bree replied. It was strange that Jasper asked to come with her, she didn't think that he liked her much.

"Nervous?"

"Definitely. I'm just so scared that they'll decide that I haven't been doing well enough, and..." Bree cut off there, not wanting to finish that sentence. A wave of calm washed over her, and she smiled.

"You'll be fine, don't worry. They're intimidating, but they're fair." Jasper reassured her.

"That was you, wasn't it?" Bree smiled

"Maybe" he laughed.

"Thank you"

"What will you do, after?" Jasper inquired, looking at Bree.

"I don't know. I'm staying here, obviously. So I don't think anything will really change." Bree shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it, I guess."

"Fair enough" Jasper replied.

They had to be quiet now, because they didn't want to alert any animals to their presence. They hunted for hours, until they were both full.

Jasper walked over to Bree and linked arms with her.

"I'm glad you're staying, Bree, I really am."

"Thank you, Jasper, me too."

**~Diego~**

Diego wandered the streets, peering into the faces of everyone he walked past. He couldn't find her.

Eventually he found a picture of him with a number underneath. He took the sheet and found a phone booth.

"Hello?"

"Hello Miss. I'm the person you were talking to earlier. I know it's late but, listen, do you want to meet up somewhere and get a drink or a meal or something?" Diego bit his lip, anxious for her reply.

"Sure."

"Delany's?"

"Fine. See you."

"Bye..."

Diego walked into the bar and grabbed a table with two chairs together. The bartender walked over and asked did he want anything, but Diego declined and said he'd order when his friend arrived. He nodded and walked off.

After about ten minutes Fred's mom walked in. She stood in the entrance, biting her lip and scanning the crowd, until her eyes fixed on Diego and she smiled and walked over.

"Hello Miss" Diego smiled at her.

"Hello, dear. Thank you for the invite!" She smiled back at him.

"No problem! What would you like to drink?"

"A white wine, please, my dear"

"Back in a sec" he smiled at her again. She smiled back, but it didn't reach her eyes. This woman was sad, it was obvious. Heartbreakingly so.

Diego leaned against the counter and waited for the bartender to notice him.

"Sorry sir, what would you like?"

"White wine and a glass of rum and coke, no ice." He asked. He wasn't in the mood to strike up a conversation with the bartender at all.

"Right sir." and he turned away to get the drinks.

"Don't." a man to the right of Diego said.

"Try and stop me." he replied.

The man beside him narrowed his eyes at Diego, but by that time the drinks were ready. Diego handed over the money and walked back to the table.

"Thank you, dear" Fred's mother said, and took a sip of her wine.

"No problem."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she met his eyes with a hopeful look.

Diego took a deep breath. "I know where your son is, but you won't like it..."

**~end~**

**I'm so sorry, I know, feel free to hate me. I never get time to write any more... Tis rather depressing. I'll try to update soon, I swear!**

**I wrote this chapter in a hurry, which is why it's a bit shit, but it's an update!**

**Love you all!**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxx **


	16. Nerves and Confessions

**Hey all!**

**It's amazing how fast things can change, isn't it?**

**I'm dedicating this chapter to everyone out there who has any sort of problem and is finding it hard to cope. Someone's always there, in the most unlikely of places.**

**I know you all thought I had given up on this story. Well, I did, for a while, but now I just feel I owe it to ye all to finish this.**

**I love all you reviewers, and all the people who didn't review, but read it all the same.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, still, sorry!**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxxx**

**~Bree~**

Today's the day.

Today is the day.

Oh God...

Today was going to be the biggest day in her life. Today they were coming. Today her fate would be decided. Forever.

Bree quickly got dressed. _For the last time? _She wondered. She looked around the room, and wondered would this be the last time she saw all the things she had around. The books on her beside table. The clothes in the wardrobe. The memories...

She sat and stared out the window. It was grey and dismal, but in Forks, when isn't it? Her hands shook slightly with nerves.

There was a knock on the door, which pulled her out of her thoughts and back into reality.

"Come in" Bree shouted.

Rosalie stood in the doorway, looking at her. Bree immediately sprang up and looked awkward.

"Hey, Rose. What's up?" Bree asked. Why could Rosalie want? Rosalie didn't even like Bree. What was she going to say?

"I just wanted to wish you luck, and..." Rosalie trailed off, as if having an internal argument on whether to tell Bree what she wanted to say or not.

"And...?"

"And I know you'll be fine." Rosalie decided.

"Thanks Rose." Bree flashed her the biggest smile she could muster. "I appreciate it."

Rosalie smiled back, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Was there something else?" Bree asked, not unkindly. She just had no idea what she was supposed to say.

"Yes, kind of. What's the deal with you and Edward?" Rosalie asked, slowly, considering each word carefully.

Bree stared at her hands. What could she say? Deny it? Pour her heart out to this cold, perfect girl? Distract her?

"There's nothing going on. Why would you think that?" Bree said, not quite able to meet Rosalie's eyes. She hoped it sounded more convincing to Rosalie than to her.

"Because it's obvious. I don't want him to get hurt, which I'm sure you can understand. Just, don't do anything you'll regret." Rosalie advised.

Bree went back to staring at her hands. Rosalie walked over to Bree's bed, and sat down beside Bree.

"It'll be OK, Bree. I promise."

"Thank you..."

**~Diego~**

Diego was going back to Forks. It was the only thing he could think of doing right now. He needed to see Bella. He needed to find Bree.

His mind flicked back to the conversation he had with Fred's mom.

"I don't believe you. You're talking absolute nonsense. Why the _hell_ would you say that to me? You're sick, you are. Leave me alone. Don't you ever try to talk to me again. Do you think that this is _funny_? Giving a lonely woman some hope and then rip it away." She ranted, before running out of the pub.

Fred left the bar minutes after, not before glaring at Diego. The hatred in his eyes scared Diego a little, but no matter.

It was clear that Bree was not here, so why was he? He left for Forks. That was a sensible thing to do. He needed to do something sensible.

He needed Bree. He needed her to make sense of everything for him. She was level-headed, which was what he needed right now. He was happy beyond words that she was still alive (so to speak) but he needed her to want to be with him.

He passed the sign saying "Welcome to Forks". He began to try to find the scent of Bree or Bella. Bella's was easy to find, that floral scent, so _tempting..._

He followed his nose until he came to what he assumed was her house. He stood there and tried to decide what to do next. He could knock on the door, but that faced the risk of seeing her family, and his eyes would be tricky to explain. Or he could call out to her, but that also risked having attention drawn to him. He was still trying to decide what to do when he saw her face looking out of the window at him. He waved his hands, trying to get her attention, but no luck. He found a pebble and threw it at her window. She looked startled, then saw him, and her expression turned to panic. She gestured for him to wait there. He retreated further into the shade of a tree.

She heard her call out to someone, saying that she was just going for a walk, that she'd be back soon. Her voice sounded hollow, like she was upset or something.

Eventually she emerged from her house. Diego emerged from the shadows.

"Where is she, Bella? Please, stop playing games. I need her." Diego said, sounding annoyed, and tired. Very very tired.

Bella's eyes were red and puffy, and she was very pale. Her hair was a mess, like she hadn't bothered to do anything with it for a while. Her clothes looked like they had been slept in, _which, _he thought, _they probably were._

"She's at the Cullen's. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. But please, get Bree back. She's stolen my Edward. No, it wasn't her fault, it was mine, completely mine. I just need him back. I'm not gonna punish her any more. I'm tired and I just want everything to go back to normal." Bella sighed, fresh tears springing to her face. "I just don't want to cry any more."

"Will you take me there?" Diego asked, his heart soaring. _I get to see her again! _

Bella nodded, slowly.

"And on the way you're going to tell me what you've been doing." Diego stated.

And she nodded again.

**~Bella~**

She told him everything. She didn't leave out a single detail. And she felt...relieved. Like some of the weight that had been weighing down on her had lifted. Like she could breathe again.

He listened to her carefully, interrupting only occasionally to ask a question. He was easy to talk to, and easier to be around now that his friend was gone. He kind of creeped her out, but she wondered what had happened, why he wasn't there.

When she finished, Diego stared at her, thoughtfully. Bella wondered what he was thinking, wishing that she had Edward's power. _Edward... _She would have to see him later. On one hand she wished she didn't have to, on the other she wanted to more than anything, just to see how he'd act towards her.

Diego's voice broke the silence. "What you did was wrong, but, I can't blame you. It's probably what a lot of people would have done."

"Is it what you would have done?" Bella asked.

"I don't know." he replied.

There was silence then, until Bella finally asked,

"Where's Fred?"

Diego looked distant then. "We both made mistakes."

He was clearly not going to offer any further explanation. They both got lost in their thoughts. Neither of them said a word until Bella stopped and said, "There. That's the house."

Bella's heart started beating really fast, and mused that Diego could probably hear it with his vampire hearing. Bella blushed, but Diego was not looking at her. He pointed to a clearing across from them.

"Who are they?" he asked, quietly.

"The people that will decide Bree's fate." Bella said, even quieter, "The Volturi."

**~End~**

**Let me know what you think. I know it's a bit OOC, but forgive me, I'm new to this, kinda. **

**I hope you like this.**

**I'll try to update soon, and I know I always say that, but this time I really will try. **

**Summer soon!**

**Whoooo!**

**Review please, they make me all happy.**

**Lots of love,**

**Paula**

**:)**


	17. Diego?

**Hey all!**

**Are ye all dying to know what happens next? I know I am, and I'm the one that's writing it!**

**I know I am rather terrible at updating and the like, but I'll try to get better, honest! **

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to someone in particular. Thank you so much for all of your reviews, and I really really wish you had an account on this so I could tell you just how much they mean to me, but instead I shall say it here.**

**Rebecca Kelsey, this one's for you...**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this, unfortunately. But I do own my plot.**

**Loves!**

**Paula**

**xxxxx**

**~Edward~**

Everyone was sitting in the Cullen's living room, staring out the window and straining their ears and senses. Bree was biting her lip and wringing her hands. Edward wanted to do or say something to make it all better, but what could he say, what could any one say?

After what seemed like hours, they smelled them. The Volturi.

"They're here." Emmett muttered, needlessly.

"Oh God." Bree whispered, clearly terrified. She looked like she was about to cry.

Through the window, Edward could see that Jane was walking in the front, and the sight of her made his blood boil. He hated her. He hated the lot of them. He wished that this wasn't happening.

"It will be OK, Bree." Jasper muttered, trying to be convincing. _Poor Jasper_, thought Edward, _not only does he have to deal with his own emotions and worries, he has to deal with all of ours too._

There was a knock on the door and Esmé got up to answer it. Alice gave Bree a brief hug, Edward squeezed her hand, and everyone else gave her reassuring smiles. Bree plastered a smile on her face and tried to look calm.

The moment of truth was finally here.

But was Bree ready?

Would she ever be?

With all the emotions running high, no one noticed Rosalie slip out of the room.

**~Bella~**

Bella and Diego hid around the back of the house. She was shaking so much so had to sit down before she fell. The sight of the Volturi made her blood run cold, and her heart freeze. They wanted her dead like them, or just plain dead. And Jane. Her childish body but cruel heart. Her powers.

Diego stared at Bella. It made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

"What's the deal, Bella?" Diego asked, softly.

"The Volturi. They think I'm the Cullen's _pet_." Bella spat. Her pure hatred towards the Volturi was so obvious that Diego looked like he was a bit afraid. "We should go before they find us" Bella said quietly. She was so scared that they would be caught, her face a mask of fear.

"You shouldn't be here in the first place." declared a voice behind them which made Diego and Bella nearly jump out of their skin. Diego emitted a low growl.

"Why are you here, Bella?" Rosalie asked, icily.

"Diego... Bree... I don't know." Bella muttered, too scared to really say anything.

"This is Diego, is it?" Rosalie asked.

"Yes, I am Diego. And I want to see Bree. Right. Now." Diego snarled.

"Well, you can't right now. She's obviously busy with the Volturi, so leave right now." Rosalie crossed her arms across her chest, clearly showing her control in this situation.

"Come on, Diego." Bella pulled on his arm, but he wouldn't budge an inch.

"No, I'm not letting this Barbie doll tell me what to do and I'm not leaving without seeing Bree." Diego stated.

"Tough. She's happier without you. They're both happier without you two. So do everyone a favour and leave us all _alone._" Rosalie spat at them, she stepped towards them menacingly. Bella back away, but Diego stood his ground.

"Please, Diego, let's just go, seriously. I don't want to have to face the Volturi. _Please._" Bella begged him.

"You're a coward, Bella, what's the worst that can happen?" Diego snarled at her.

"She could be killed, and so could you." Rosalie pointed out.

"Why? We've done nothing wrong!" Diego said, outraged.

"Oh really? Nothing at all?" Rosalie asked, condescendingly. "Bella knows too much and is supposed to either be a vampire or dead, and all of _you_ vampires should have been eradicated. If they find either of you, you will be killed. So if you want to die, by all means, stay, I couldn't care less, but I would advise you to leave immediately, and not to come back, for everyone's good."

Rosalie turned on her heel and left them, leaving Bella and Diego staring after her.

"Please, can we go?" Bella begged, sounding pathetic.

"No, we'll wait until they leave." Diego said, stubbornly.

"Fine, you stay here and get killed, but I'm leaving."

"No, you're not. I'm going to win Bree back when the Volturi leave, and then Edward will want you again. I promise."

"Fine." Bella sighed and sank back to the ground.

**~Bree~**

"Hello Bree." said Aro. "I'm Aro, if you did not know. I trust you are well?"

"Yes, thank you." said Bree. Edward had his arm draped protectively around Bree's shoulder, which Bree was infinitely thankful for. Bree attempted a smile, but could not quite manage it. They were standing in the Cullen's living room, with the Cullen's standing behind Bree and the Volturi standing facing them. To someone looking in through the window, it would have looked like some form of showdown.

"Do you fear us, Bree?" he asked, softly.

"Yes." Bree felt that there was no need to lie to them, her anxiousness was probably plastered all over her face.

"You shouldn't, you have kept our rules, have you not? Have you changed from the blood-thirsty beast you were when we met, not a month ago, or are you like the humble Cullen's." Aro sneered.

"I am definitely different. I have not sampled human blood for over a month, nor have I had any contact with my past brothers and sisters." _Unfortunately... _she thought to herself.

"Do you still think of them as that, your brothers and sisters?" Aro inquired.

"No, I do not, I am just not sure how I should refer to them" Bree explained.

"Have you had any problems with her, Carlisle, as you are the one in charge of her care." asked Aro, turning to face Carlisle.

"No, she is a wonderful girl, and I am proud to be her guardian and her friend." Carlisle answered, strongly, meeting Aro's eyes and holding his gaze.

"Then I do not think we have any need to stay here. We have other business to attend to." Aro turned to leave. Bree tried to remain composed, but inside she was screaming and dancing with happiness. She looked around at the Cullen's and they were each smiling at her. Edward squeezed her shoulders, and Bree smiled up at him.

"Where's your _friend_, Edward? Bella?" asked Jane. Bree felt Edward tense up.

"We are no longer of acquaintance." Edward said, simply.

"Shame." Jane said, "but I think that Bree, though a rogue she may be, is a much better choice." She smiled and turned to leave, with the rest of the Volturi behind her.

After the Volturi had left, Emmett grabbed Bree and pulled her into a giant bear hug, which would probably have killed her, had she been human. The Cullen's all took it in turns to hug her and to welcome her into their family, _"Forever"_.

Rosalie slipped back into the room and hugged Bree too, gathering that the Volturi had given their approval.

Tears of happiness slid down Bree's cheek. She was here. She belonged.

The door opened and a figure that was oh so familiar to Bree walked in, a figure she thought she would never see again.

"Bree..." he whispered.

"Diego? Is it really you?" Bree wanted to run up to him, hug him, kiss him, slap him, punch him, but her body was frozen to the spot.

"Yes, it's me, and I'm never leaving your side again." Diego walked up to her and took her hand. He was all confidence, but Bree was all nervousness and stunned. She stared at their clasped hands, then into Edward's face.

"I told you to leave, Diego." Rosalie snarled.

"You knew he was here, and you didn't tell me?" Bree said, sounding hurt.

"Yes. I did. And it would be better if he left." Rosalie stepped forward, glaring at Diego.

"No, it would not. I love this woman, and I'm not leaving again, for anything."

**~End~**

**Well, what did ye think? Did you like it? Love it? Hate it?**

**Please review, please please pleeeeease? **

**What do ye think Bree will do? Let me know!**

**Yours always,**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	18. Loves, Lies and Goodbyes

**Hey all!**

**Thank you for your responses on my last chapter! It meant a lot to me! I have time to update now, thank God. I actually love writing this story, it's so much fun!**

**Don't forget to add me on Facebook, Paula 'themirrorgirl' Mahoney! You can chat to me, tell me what you like and don't like about the story! Or just for someone to talk to.**

**Anyway, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my dear friend Tara, she's always there when I need her, and I've needed her quite a lot recently.**

**Anyway, enjoy my lovelies!**

**Paula **

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**~Bree~**

_Diego? Here? What? How? How could he have found me! How could he have found me when I couldn't find him? And today, of all days! And how could Rosalie and Edward have kept it a secret? Did everyone know?_

"Bree, are you OK?" Edward asked, looking at her closely, concern clouding his features.

"You... Knew..." Bree uttered. "You knew... And you... You didn't tell me? What were you _thinking_? Did everyone but me know?" she looked at each of the Cullen's faces, each showing their guilt.

"What were you all doing? Having a big joke behind my back? I trusted you, Rosalie. And you, Edward! Of course you knew, you can read _minds_! And the rest of you? Did Rosalie tell you, or did Edward? Was it fun, knowing something that I didn't? Did you all have a good laugh? I sure hope you all did! Don't you have any idea of all the pain I went through? Knowing that I was _alone_?" Bree was shaking with anger now. "Don't you care about me at _all?"_

"Bree, calm down, let's talk about this..." Edward said, soothingly. Jasper tried to send out a wave of calm, but it was useless. Bree's anger was unstoppable now.

"No! I will not calm down! I'm not a child!" Bree shouted. "So don't even bother Jasper! So thank you, for everything. But I can not stay here knowing that you all kept something so _enormous _from me. So goodbye, everyone. Come on, Diego, let's go." She pulled on Diego's hand and stormed out of the room, nearly knocking down Bella on the way out.

She ran. She left the Cullen's house, the forest, Forks, everything behind her. She could hear Edward calling, but she didn't care, she just needed to get away from them all. _How could they have kept all this a secret from me? I trusted them. I must have been crazy! _She ran faster than she ever had before, it was one of the most amazing feelings she had ever had, almost as if she were flying.

Eventually, Diego pulled her to a stop. They were in a field in a place she had never seen before. They had left the forest miles behind. Left everything she had ever known.

"Bree... Come here..." he pulled her close to him, his arms around her, holding her close, protecting her, sheltering her. She couldn't cry, but she wished she could. Something to get out all the anger and sadness she felt. "It's OK, everything is going to be OK from now on, I promise you, I'm here for you. Forever..." She clung to him, not wanting to ever let go. He would make everything better, she knew he would.

**~Edward~**

Edward pushed past Bella without a second thought, and called for Bree, again and again. But she wouldn't turn around. He tried to run after her, but she was just too fast. He knew it was pointless, but he pressed on. But after a little while she and Diego had both disappeared from view and he had no idea where to look. She was gone. Just like that. Diego had come, and she was...gone...

He looked around him. He was in the forest, in the middle of a clearing. A clearing which he knew too well. Usually this clearing brought him tranquility, but there was nothing even remotely resembling tranquility left for him in the world, and he wondered would there ever be again. Eternity was a long time to be alone.

Bella was gone.

And now Bree...

He had known about Bella talking to Diego. He had _known._ But why hadn't he said anything to Bree?

_Because you're selfish. You wanted her for yourself._

_I just... I didn't want to hurt her. She was hurting enough..._

_Don't you think knowing that he was alive would have eased her pain, gave her a chance of hope? You just thought if she didn't know, she would never leave you. And now she's gone. Happy?_

He could think of nothing to say in reply to that. He had been selfish, he knew he had been. Maybe he deserved not having Bree...

He collapsed onto the ground by the base of an oak tree. He sat there for a long, long time, lost in his thoughts.

"Hey." said a voice, jerking him back into reality. It wasn't her. It was someone he did not want to see right now.

"What do you want?" he snapped. He saw the hurt flash across her face, but right now, he really did not care.

"I wanted... I just... Are you OK?" She stumbled over the words.

"I'm fine, Bella. Leave me alone." Edward said, coldly.

But she didn't leave him alone. Instead she sat down beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. Edward was stiff at first, but he eventually relaxed.

"She's gone..." Edward said, quietly.

"She's just angry. She'll get over it. She'll remember how nice everyone was to her and she will come back." She sounded so certain...

"No, she won't. She's his. She always was." he stared at a daisy, so white, so pretty. "I lied to her. Well, lied by omission. But still a lie. I don't deserve to have her friendship. I should have wanted her to be happy, but I just wanted her to be my friend more."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Edward. She will come back, I know she will. And I'll be here for you until then, or for however long you want me. But I'll always be yours, whether you want me to be, or not." she said, firmly. "I love you, Edward, and I always will love you. And I'm sorry for acting like such a bitch before, I really, really am. And I hope you will eventually learn to forgive me."

"Bella?"

"Yes?"

"I love you too."

**~Diego~**

"Where have you been?" Bree asked, still clutching onto him.

"Looking for you, of course. Bree, I was so scared, I thought you were dead. I found Fred, and we've both been looking for you. He'll be so glad to see you. He was nearly as worried about you as I was!"

"Where is Fred?" Bree asked. "I miss him, too. I'm so glad he survived."

"Me and himself had a little falling out, but it's nothing that will last, and all will be forgotten when he sees you, don't worry about that." Diego replied reassuringly.

"Did anyone else survive?" she asked, curiously.

"Not that I know of..."

"Well, I can't wait to see him" Bree smiled. "The three of us, back together."

"That's right, my dear." Diego put his hands on her shoulders and held her at arms length, looking at her, memorizing every feature. "Your hair has grown." Bree pulled at her hair self-consciously. "It looks good." he smiled, "You look good."

"So do you. It's-"

"A ninja thing" They said simultaneously. They looked at each other, and they laughed. They both forgot about everything for just that one moment. They forgot about all they had been through in the last month. The war, the loneliness, the pain, the arguments... They laughed so hard that they had to cling on to each other to keep from falling over.

They were the two ninjas.

And together, they were finally happy.

**~End~**

**Wow.**

**It's over.**

**I'm sorry that there was no warning, but I only decided when I was writing this that it was a perfect way to end it.**

**Let me know if ye agree or not!**

**I might do a sequel to this, depending on if ye want me to.**

**Would ye like that?**

**Thank you to all who reviewed, and to those who just read it. I'm glad ye liked it, those of you who did.**

**I love ye all.**

**Yours always,**

**Paula**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


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